India Untold: How A CIA Mission Left Nuclear Device On Nanda Devi That Is Still Haunting The Himalayas

Snow-draped Himalayan peaks, a covert mission worthy of a spy thriller, a vanishing nuclear device, and whispers of disaster waiting to unfold - the Nanda Devi mystery reads like the script of a Dr. Strangelove-esque film. Yet, this is no fiction. Back in 1965, amid the frenzied paranoia of the Cold War, the United States government turned to India with a request; help track China's nuclear activities. What followed was an expedition to Nanda Devi, India's second-highest peak. The mission, however, ended in calamity when a nuclear-powered device meant to eavesdrop on Beijing's atomic pursuits vanished without a trace. Fifty-six years later, the shadows of that mission continue to loom large.

Cold War Conspiracy

The tale begins in the 1960s, soon after China detonated its first nuclear device at Lop Nur in Xinjiang Province. According to celebrated mountaineer Captain Manmohan Singh Kohli, the idea for the mission may have been sparked at a Washington cocktail party. In his book Spies in the Himalayas, he recalls how National Geographic photographer Barry Bishop, while chatting with U.S. Air Force Chief Curtis LeMay, mentioned the unparalleled vantage from Himalayan summits.“On the surface, [the two] seemed to have little in common. But when Bishop spoke of the unique vantage point from atop the Himalayas - with an unfettered view across Chinese-occupied Tibet - LeMay was all ears.”

Around the same time, Captain Kohli had just returned from leading India's first successful Everest expedition. Soon, he was roped in for a“secret mission” unlike any other.“Due to a pressing requirement for unique skills, the intelligence agencies of the United States and India could not turn to their normal roster of spies or paramilitary operatives,” Kohli wrote.“Instead, they had to draw on a small fraternity of elite mountaineers to place a delicate monitoring device at the 'roof of the world'.”

The Dangerous Ascent

In October 1965, Indian and American climbers set off, burdened with a 57-kg package containing surveillance equipment and seven plutonium capsules. The route was treacherous, navigating sheer drops and the infamous“Stairway to Heaven” - a natural staircase of stone where one misstep meant certain death.

But as Kohli recalls, nature itself turned against them.“As our team was approaching the summit, there was a powerful blizzard. We had to leave the generator in a small cave and return because the weather conditions were too dangerous to continue. Our team's safety was my priority at that point.”

When the climbers returned a year later, the device was gone.“However, we found the generator was missing,” Kohli told The Better India. Even helicopters scouring the region in 1968 failed to locate it. Some suspect an avalanche swallowed it whole; others fear it lies buried beneath the snow, biding its time.

A Nuclear Ghost Resurfaces

For decades, the story was buried - until the Washington Post exposed it in 1978, forcing then-Prime Minister Morarji Desai to admit in Parliament that India had collaborated with the U.S. to plant a nuclear device atop Nanda Devi. Alarmist reports warned of radioactive leakage into the Ganges. Conspiracy theories mushroomed, linking the affair to the mysterious deaths of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha.

The story resurfaced yet again in 2018, when Uttarakhand's Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj urged Prime Minister Modi to probe whether the missing device was polluting the Ganga. The suspicions grew louder in 2021 after a glacier burst in Raini claimed over 50 lives. Though scientists attributed the floods to geological causes, locals remained unconvinced.“We think the devices could have played a role. How can a glacier simply break off in winter? We think the government should investigate,” one resident told the BBC.

Kohli himself has his doubts.“After '65, I was posted near Raini village, and during the three years we spent looking for the device, we tested the water in the Rishi Ganga. We were worried that if the generator slid down the slope, it could contaminate the water. The glacier burst made the story a little clearer. For now, it seems the water is diluted and has flown down to the ocean.”

A Mystery That Refuses to Die

Despite endless theories - avalanches, conspiracies, even whispers of sabotage - the nuclear device remains unaccounted for. Hollywood too has latched onto the enigma, with producer Scott Rosenfelt working on a movie adaptation.

(This article has been curated with the help of AI)

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