The RAW was always known to be stuffed with incompetents, who were basically those relatives of high-placed officials who couldn't qualify to do anything on their own. The RAW had come to be a totally worthless organisation as far as human intelligence on foreign countries was concerned. To top that, Arvind Dave, never known for any extraordinary skills or achievements, found that a lifetime of waiting had landed him the top job by default, and once there, he wasn't going to let go.

So he literally grabbed the Prime Minister's legs for a year's extension soon after the BJP came to power in March 1998; and this year, when his tenure was up, and a specialist from outside was picked to take over the RAW and clean it up, Dave again grabbed the PM"s legs - this time getting support from Mr Fernandes.

So how did Mr Dave repay Mr Fernandes? By taking the defence minister, and his girlfriend Jaya Jaitley, on a tour by a secret reconnaissance aircraft, to a secret airbase. This on May 20 -- two days before India became aware of the Kargil intrusion and launched Operation Vijay.

The doting couple were taken on an Aviation Research Centre (ARC) aircraft to Chakrata. Being top secret (their existence is officially denied), no outsiders are allowed on these premises, unless permission is granted by the Prime Minister's Office. None, apparently, had been given for Ms Jaitley's joy-ride.

But when it finally came for Dave to go - the intelligence failure was too glaring to paper over - his peace was bought with his appointment to the Raj Bhawan in Arunachal Pradesh. That itself is a story.

Jaal devotees may recall that during the Vishnu Bhagwat affair, Fernandes' run-running operation in the Andaman islands, Operation Leech, was uncovered. It transpired that the Defence Minister was meeting Arakan rebels from Myanmar and Tibetan freedom movement activists -- in Arunachal Pradesh.