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HomeIndiaGovernanceR&AW chief Anil Kumar Dhasmana, IB director Rajiv Jain get 6-month extensions

R&AW chief Anil Kumar Dhasmana, IB director Rajiv Jain get 6-month extensions

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The extensions will tide over both men until the new government takes charge by the middle of next year.

New Delhi: The Modi government Friday gave six-month long extensions to Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Anil Kumar Dhasmana and Intelligence Bureau director Rajiv Jain.

Dhasmana was to retire on 29 December, while Jain was to retire on 30 December.

The extensions to the heads of India’s external and internal intelligence agencies will tide over both men until the new government takes over by the middle of next year.

Those in the running to become heads of R&AW & IB will also now have to cool their heels for some more time.

The decision was taken at an Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) meeting, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The move also means that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will effectively remain in charge of security policy for the remainder of the Modi government’s tenure.

Doval has remained hugely influential all through Modi’s rule, directly intervening in foreign and security policy, especially in the neighbourhood. Modi’s tough Pakistan policy was said to be a direct manifestation of Doval’s views on India’s western neighbour.

ThePrint earlier reported that an urgent meeting of the IB was called Tuesday, in the wake of the BJP’s defeat in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan assembly elections, where top functionaries were asked to begin work to gauge the “mood of the voters” for the general elections.


Also read: Hours after heartland loss, Modi govt sends SOS to Intelligence Bureau for 2019 polls


Longer wait

The extension to Dhasmana pushes the four contenders to be R&AW chief into the background. On top of that list is K. Ilango, former chief of the Colombo R&AW station, where he is said to have been able to help turn the tide against then Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who went on to lose the elections in 2015.

Samant Goel, a Punjab cadre IPS officer and said to be “a very smart man,” is also in the reckoning to be R&AW chief. Unusually, Goel found his name publicly bandied about by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), when the agency some weeks ago named him as a spat between then chief Alok Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana got rough.

The CBI said Goel allegedly tried to dilute the money-laundering probe against businessman Moin Qureshi and claimed that it had intercepted phone calls and WhatsApp messages between Goel and two Dubai-based middlemen, Manoj and Somesh Prasad.

Two others tipped as favourites for IB chief are Arvind Kumar, a 1984-batch Bihar cadre IPS officer, and R.K. Shukla, Madhya Pradesh police chief.

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