What is the mystery behind nuclear devices planted at Nanda Devi? Where did they disappear? Chinese connection…, big danger for India …

New Delhi: Sometimes, life imitates movies, that too a Hollywood potboiler about spy missions involving a nuclear weapon. Something similar happened in the period between 1965-68 at Nanda Devi, the second-highest mountain in India, after Kangchenjunga. It is important to note that Nanda Devi is a sacred place and locals are of the opinion that it’s the home of Goddess Nanda. Many view the peak as spiritually protected and significant.

That time the Cold War was at its peak and the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR would just do anything to sabotage each other’s plans, and China detonated its first nuclear device in 1964. In the wake of it, America collaborated with India to place nuclear-powered monitoring devices across the Himalayas to spy on Chinese nuclear tests and missile firings.

It was in October 1965 that a group of Indian and American climbers hauled up seven plutonium capsules along with surveillance equipment. The weight of the entire package was about 57kg. The plutonium capsules along with surveillance equipment were meant to be placed near India’s north-eastern border with China, on top of the 7,816-metre Nanda Devi.

Just as the climbers were about to touch the peak, the weather deteriorated, and a snowstorm forced the climbers to abort the mission and rush to the base. They left behind a six-foot-long antenna, two radio communication sets, a power pack, and the plutonium capsules on a platform.

The team of climbers returned to the spot in May 1966, and they found, nothing!

All the equipment and devices they had placed were missing, causing panic among US and Indian intelligence agencies. The mystery is yet to be unsolved and the answer to the question remains ‘where the device vanished’.

Following this incident, the place was closed to foreign expeditions throughout much of the 1960s. it was re-opened in 1974.

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