NEW DELHI, July 24: When you open the newspaper in the morning, be ready for a surprise. You may see your name and address below a Letters to the Editor carrying an opinion that's certainly not yours. If you're lucky, you may only see your address and a name that doesn't exist.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB), the government's dirty tricks department, has employed a bunch of officers whose job is to ensure that editorial pages of newspapers carry what is perceived to be the government's point of view. To ensure credibility and variety, they regularly use real names or real addresses, sometimes both.

The suspicion - and the investigation - began when letters to the editor began arriving at two private fax numbers at The Indian Express. First came the letters. Then, a string of reminders. The tone and tenor of the letters were strikingly similar and, more important, they were on select issues such as Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, nuclear option and Pakistan. There have been similar persuasive letters and reminders in the mail too. And in all the letters, the content was identical, often backed by facts specialists usually have access to.

The Indian Express decided to unravel the mystery and trace the authors. As for the letters sent by fax, the task was easy. In one case, the fax number that the letter was sent from figures in an internal directory at the IB's office in RK Puram.

Express sent out letters to some of these `writers' inviting them to write opinion pieces for the newspaper. These letters were sent by courier and registered post. Here's what we found:

*A puzzled Jesse Kochar of Bangalore wrote back: ``While I do not remember writing to you, I would love to write for the paper.''*The letter to Colonel Ram Singh, 1/4 Preet Vihar, Nainital, Uttar Pradesh came back with a note from the post office: ``Return address wrong and incomplete.''

*The letter sent to S S Srinivasan of IIT, Delhi, came back with a legend by the professor who lives in the room attributed to the `writer'. The professor wrote, ``This is not me'', and returned the letter to the institute's despatch section.

*Though our letter addressed to S P Rajan of Rajouri Garden, Delhi, came back saying ``No such person at given address'', this correspondent went to the spot to confirm. After spending four hours in Rajouri Garden trying to trace S P Rajan, the address (G-19/2) was finally located. An irate middle-aged lady who had been woken up from her siesta said, ``Kya baat hai. Yahan per koi is naam ka nahi hai.'' (what is the matter? There is no one by this name here). The family, she said, doesn't buy this newspaper and nobody has ever written a letter to the editor.

So where do these ghost letters come from?

Investigations show these letters are written by a shadowy cell of the IB headed by a joint-director. It keeps an eye on what it calls media trends and steps in to ``correct wrong perceptions''. The cell employs Deputy Central Intelligence Officers (DCIOs), Assistant Central Intelligence Officers (ACIO). But, when it is a case of writing letters to the media officials of other cells also take a hand if the subject relates to their area of interest. So the Pakistan cell will step in and write letters trying to correct ``peacenik'' and ``Pakistan friendly perceptions''. The Bhabani Sengupta episode is a case in point. Sources reveal that his letter to The New York Times which was made available to some senior political leaders was pulled out of the file maintained by the IB in North Block at their communications centre.

It formed part of a dossier maintained on Sengupta by the cell.

Four letters in search of an author

Name: Dr S S Srinivasan Address: DEE Rm 312, Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khaz, New Delhi

Letter: ``It is regrettable that The Indian Express should continue to allow American non-proliferation fanatics to use its columns to disseminate their propaganda''.

Status when investigated: No such person exists. ``This is not me,'' writes Dr Murthy of the IIT, Delhi to the institute's despatch section.

Name: Dr S.P. Rajan Address: G-19/2, Rajouri Garden, New DelhiLetter: ``The Indian Express should immediately apologise for publishing Aiyar's trashy, virulent and untruthful article on Bhabani Sengupta. Otherwise you should face legal action.''.

Status when investigated: Correct address. No such person exists.

Name: Colonel Ram Singh Address: 1/4 Preet Vihar, Nainital, Uttar PradeshLetter:

``That you should publish the article after the Indian veto at the ad-hoc Nuclear Test Ban Committee reflects poorly on your editorial standards and your apparent willingness to bend backwards to accommodate non-proliferation pedagogues.''

Status when investigated: Address wrong and incomplete since there is no Preet Vihar in Nainital.

Name: Jesse Kochar Address: 421 Victorian Avenue, 13th 6 D Main Nagar, HAL 11 B, Bangalore-8

Letter: ``In every country letters going out and coming in are read. I would guess there is no other method except this to find out if the post is not being used for hanky panky.''

Status when investigated: Person exists, the address is correct but, he never wrote the letter.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.