| 1. His family moved from Srinagar to Varanasi when he was young. |
| 2. He was raised by his uncle, Pandit Trilokinath Kao. |
| 3. Kao became the first director of the Aviation Research Centre in Charbatia, Odisha. |
| 4. He was highly respected by Indian and South Asian Intelligence communities for his efforts in transforming R&AW. |
| 5. He was proficient in speaking Urdu and enjoyed reciting couplets in his leisure time. |
| 6. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi acknowledged his contributions during the Emergency in 1977. |
| 7. Count Alexandre de Marenches, the head of the French external intelligence agency, recognized him as one of the 'five great intelligence chiefs of the 1970s.' |
| 8. He was part of the investigative team probing the 1955 Kashmir Princess crash, an Air India flight explosion that killed 16 delegates en route to the Bandung Conference; the team attributed it to the Chinese Nationalist Party's attempt to assassinate Zhou Enlai, who was not aboard, and Kao later received a letter of recommendation from Zhou Enlai. |
