A book authored by retired Bengal intelligence chief Dilip Mitra has claimed that there were “three plots” between 2001 and 2008 to kill former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and specific plans were in place to shoot the late prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani during their visits to the state.

While Mitra avoids offering specific timelines in the book, “Operation Black Stiletto: My Years in Intelligence”, he said the first attempt on Bhattacharya’s life was in 2002 soon after the former chief minister had said unaffiliated madrasas were centres of unlawful activities. The two other attempts that he refers to during his tenure were made over the next six years with the last one ahead of Lalgarh Operation in 2008.

Mitra writes about his experience of interrogating one “Abdul”, an alleged member of the ISI’s sleeper cell in Calcutta, who revealed how he had been summoned to Dhaka soon after Bhattacharya’s statement was televised on news channels. He was tasked with offering shelter and logistics to ISI operatives who would reach from Dhaka during one of Bhattacharya’s scheduled visits to a bordering district of Bengal, understandably Murshidabad.

“He would carry out tasks from time to time, serve as a conduit for funds and, in a sort of master stroke, befriended and employed the daughter of a head clerk.. (in the police, handling sensitive information about VIP movements) ...” Mitra writes in his book.

One of the two other attempts that Mitra narrates was around the time when Maoists had spread over East and West Midnapore districts, Purulia and Bankura in Bengal after rebranding themselves as Peoples War group (PW).

During interrogation it surfaced that Bhattacharya was “the single most hated enemy of the Peoples War” and the Maoists were planning to strike when the former chief minister was scheduled to visit the Jungle Mahal.

Mitra talks about an assassination attempt on L.K. Advani by Lashkar-e-Tayeba, a banned terror outfit, during his visit to Belur Math, the global headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission in Howrah. While the book doesn't mention the time, it presumably refers to the visit in July 2003. Advani then was not a SPG protectee.

Ex-deputy PM LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. File photo

“Lal Krishna Advani would be assassinated during his forthcoming visit to West Bengal. That was what the paper in my hands said,” Mitra writes.

Shortly after Advani left Calcutta there was another “feed” that said Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister would be killed during his visit to Calcutta.

According to the book, Vajpayee was arriving in Calcutta to attend two events with the first stop at a hotel adjoining the Salt Lake stadium. The ITC Sonar would have been his last stop.

Mitra writes that on that particular day all hotel guests were subjected to “quick background checks” and asked to “remain well away from the restricted zone…we put our best officers and men on the job…”.

Extensive meetings were held with the SPG and the intelligence officers from Bengal.

“Every invitee was subjected to security screening as was every member of the hotel staff. This was in addition to the most stringent measures taken…The meeting over, we once again accompanied him to his car and watched him drive away,." Mitra recounts in the book.