Hummingbird News Desk
NEW DELHI, 24 JUNE: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Friday appointed Tapan Kumar Deka, a 1988 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer as Director, Intelligence Bureau for a period of two years, till June 2024, after the 2024 general elections are concluded in May.
The ACC also gave another one-year extension in service to Samant Kumar Goel, Secretary, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
Mr Deka, who has been handling the operations wing of the IB, takes over as the new chief for two years, according to an official order issued by the Personnel Ministry. He is a 1988 batch officer from the Himachal Pradesh cadre.
The tenure of Samant Goel, who has been heading the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), has been extended by one more year, the ministry said in another order.
Mr Deka has been tracking terrorists and religious radicalization for the past two decades. Essentially an expert on northeast affairs he was sent by Home Minister Amit Shah to Assam after the anti-CAA violence broke out in 2019.
Mr Deka, who hails from Assam, is handling the operations desk. He was also deputed by Mr Shah to oversee the operations in Kashmir Valley after the first spate of civilian killings started in October 2021.
He is credited as the man who broke the back of the Indian Mujahideen group and also the one who investigated the 26/11 attacks.
Mr. Deka supersedes one senior officer — 1987 batch IPS officer A.S Rajan, in the internal intelligence agency. Four officers from the same 1988 batch are also serving in the IB.
All the three officers were granted a year’s extension in office in 2021 and belong to the 1984-batch of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS).
The Narendra Modi government also rewarded Secretary (R&AW) Samant Goel by giving him an unprecedented second extension after a two-year fixed tenure for building up operational capability and accountability of India’s external agency. An Af-Pak expert, Goel, a Punjab cadre officer, is a plain-speaking officer and brings total commitment to his job. He works closely with both Home Minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
Also, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Parameswaran Iyer was appointed the chief executive officer of NITI Aayog. He will be succeeding Amitabh Kant, whose tenure is scheduled to end on 30 June.
Tags: #TapanKumarDeka #IBChief #SamantGoel #RAW #AjitDoval #NITIAayog
