Intel expert officer Tapan Kumar Deka is the new IB Chief

New Delhi, June 25

Senior IPS officer Tapan Kumar Deka has been appointed as the Director of Intelligence Bureau.

Deka who holds the rank of Director General of Police has been appointed for a tenure of two years from the date of assumption of the charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Deka will succeed incumbent Intelligence Bureau Director Arvind Kumar, whose tenure ends on June 30.

"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Tapan Kumar Deka, IPS (HP:88), Special Director, Intelligence Bureau as Director, Intelligence Bureau vice Shr Arvinda Kumar, IPS (AM:84), upon completion of his tenure on June 30, 2022, for a tenure of two years from the date of assumption of the charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier, by granting extension in service under the provisions of All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958," the order reads.

Deka has spent most of the career in the Intelligence Bureau. He was an Additional Director in Intelligence Bureau when he was promoted to the rank of Special Director in the Wing in June 2021.

He joined the Intelligence Bureau in 1998 and since then he was never seen in a police uniform.

Deka mostly worked with the Intelligence Bureau of India and is known as a close aide of NSA Ajit Doval.  

He is also first police officer from the Northeast to be appointed at a covered post of the Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Deka has handled crucial cases like terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, especially targeted killings in the Valley.

Known as the IB man, Deka, who has been handling the operations division of the Intelligence Bureau, has decades of experience in counter-terrorism. He was the operations joint-director when Indian Mujahideen (IM) was at the peak of its sabotage activities in the country.
Under him, the Intelligence Bureau tracked each of its operatives over the years and brought them to book. Indian Mujahideen has been practically incapacitated since the 2012 arrest of Yasin Bhatkal from Nepal and the subsequent arrest of Tehsin Akhtar.

Deka was also handling operations during the 2015-16 Pathankot air base attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack.

Deka was the the officer who broke the back of Indian Mujahideen group as also the man who investigated the 26/11 attacks. He has been tracking Islamic radicalization for the past two decades.

His decades of work on the IB has aided the country in many counter intelligence operations of terror outfits in J&K.

He had also accompanied the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in his recent visits to J&K and said to have aided the NSA Ajit Doval during the removal of Article 370 in J&K.

Deka holds a Master’s Degree in Physics and was an AASU leader. He cleared Indian Police Service (IPS) in his first attempt.