New Delhi, June 2: Indian intelligence agencies will take up the disappearance of a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) official, believed to be spying for the US, with their American counterparts at their next liaison meeting.

Ravinder Singh, who is thought to have been sharing external intelligence reports on India’s neighbours with the US, disappeared on May 14. A joint secretary (Southeast Asia desk) at RAW, Singh is believed to have slipped out of the country even as a red-faced intelligence wing kept its suspicions about the official under wraps.

Even so, the spying incident is unlikely to spark a diplomatic row. Sources say Delhi may have to restrict itself to lodging a protest at the next meeting with US intelligence officers unless intelligence agencies come up with something concrete in their investigations.

The last high-profile case of an Indian government official caught spying for the US ended in diplomatic sparring after Delhi expelled the US “diplomat” who had established “unauthorised” contact with Rattan Sehgal, an additional director at the Intelligence Bureau. In retaliation, the US had ordered two Indian consular officers in San Francisco and Chicago to leave the country.

Sehgal was nabbed by intelligence officers keeping tabs on him when he made contact with undercover US diplomats. But in Singh’s case, Delhi will not have the chance to question him. Sources suggest RAW could have been waiting to collect evidence against Singh and identify his US contacts, but were outsmarted by the joint secretary.

Government sources said things could have panned out differently if RAW had not been so secretive about its suspicions and had informed the IB, which has been designated as the nodal agency for counter-intelligence. “They would have had more resources at their disposal across the country,” a source said, pointing out that the IB had kept its RAW counterparts informed during the Sehgal episode.

The intelligence wing informed the government of its suspicions only after Singh — who had been drafted into RAW from the army — disappeared, even though they had kept him under watch since the first week of April. The Centre is trying to figure out how long Singh had been cooperating with the US.

If his contact was of recent vintage, sources suggest the joint secretary’s revelations may not have been very damaging. But if this is not the case, it would suggest that intelligence agencies need to modify the way they select intelligence officers and provide periodic security clearances.