Says Singh: “I see myself as a chronicler of the armed forces and the RAW book is the only one out of character with others I have written. What I have revealed in this book is nothing in comparison to the kind of material I still have official access to. And nobody in the Army establishment has said anything to me about the OSA case. So for me, it is research and writing as usual.”

There are two other military books Singh has written. The first, his well-received book Leadership in the Indian Army with profiles of courage of 12 of the country’s best-known men in uniform, published by Sage Publications in 2005.

The Army issued a circular advising all units to purchase the book for their formations and libraries.

Singh says he turned in the manuscript of this book to the Army in 1997 and when he retired in 2002, the manuscript was returned to him, free to publish.

Then last year, he received a research fellowship (the Chhatrapati Shivaji Chair) by the United Service Institute of India (USI) for his forthcoming title Contribution of the Armed Forces to the freedom movement in India.

Singh says he has just handed over that manuscript and is now busy researching the third volume on the Signals.