Former R&AW officer B Raman's book confirms that the UK secret services recced the Golden Temple in 1984 at the request of the Indian authorities. Raman, however, refers to them as MI5 operatives, the UK's internal security intelligence agency and not the Special Air Services.
Raman, however, writes that the British secret service personnel had advised against a military operation.
"I was given to understand that at the request of Kao, two officers of the British Secret Service (MI5) visited the Golden Temple as tourists and gave a similar advice to Indira Gandhi - be patient and avoid action or use the police," Raman writes on Page 96 of his 2007 book The Kaoboys of R&AW.