Guwahati: IPS Officer Tapan Kumar Deka has been appointed as the new Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
This was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Friday.
Arvinda Kumar, whose extended contract expires on June 30 has been replaced by Deka. Deka has been hired for a two-year term starting on the day she assumed responsibility for the position or until further notice.
Tapan Deka has tracked terrorists and religious extremism as the chief of the Intelligence Bureau’s Operations section for the past 20 years. Deka, an officer from the Himachal Pradesh cadre class of 1988 who specialises in north-east matters, was assigned to Assam by Home Minister Amit Shah in the wake of the 2019 anti-CAA riots.
Deka broke the Indian Mujahideen group’s back and led the investigation into the 26/11 attacks.
With the intention of giving the intelligence agency more clout, the government chose Tapan Deka over four senior officers to lead the Intelligence Bureau via appointment.
Deka was a former All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) leader and he was selected for IPS in his first attempt.
Meanwhile, the tenure of Samant Goel, who has been in charge of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), has had his contract extended by one year, the ministry announced in a separate notification.
