CIA Lost Nuclear-Powered Electronic Eavesdropping Device on Top of Indian Mountain in 1965

Maninder Dabas

March 30, 2016

Nanda Devi, the second highest peak of India is famous for its scenic beauty. But apart from being one of the most sought after pastoral destinations in Himalayas, it’s also home to lost nuclear power sensing device which got buried beneath a snow clad valleys of Nanda Devi 50 years ago.

In 1965, three years after China’s invasion into India, US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and India’s Intelligence Bureau collaborated to install a nuclear-powered sensing to check China’s burgeoning nuclear ambitions. 

In 1964, amid the height of cold between Western and Eastern blocks, China had conducted a nuclear test in Xinjiang province; and in order to check further nuclear development, a device atop Nanda Devi was to be installed.

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Guru Rinpoche was the name given to this device by the sherpas who climbed this device which was half the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. 

Installing the device was indeed a daunting task as carrying a device weighing 56 kg alongwith 8-10 ft antenna, two transceiver sets and a system for nuclear auxiliary power (SNAP) generator was a quite a challenge. 

On October 18 when team reached Camp IV, the extreme weather condition forced team leader Manmohan Singh Kohli to retreat; and he along with his men returned while forsaking the device there.

But in 1966 when the team returned to gather the device, they didn’t find anything. Kohli feared that since plutonium capsules have a longevity of almost a century, these capsules can cause a large scale contamination of the Rishi Ganga, the river that drains the Nanda Devi glacier into the Ganges.

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“Considering that over 200 people were involved and it went on for three years, this was the 20th century’s greatest mountaineering-cum-espionage operation. It stretched the limits of human endurance,” Kohli says. 

Kohli who is 85 now still fears that the lives of millions of Indians living alongside Gangatic plains upto Kolkata would get affected if ever any contamination takes place. Although several times water sources and rocks were tested for radiation and nothing was found.

In 1967, however, the Americans with the help of Kohli and other Indian climbers successfully installed a nuclear power listening device on the neighbouring peak, the Nanda Kot.