The current Director General of the Intelligence Bureau, Tapan Kumar Deka, has been granted a one-year extension of service by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Department of Personnel and Training reports that Tapan Kumar Deka will hold his position till June 30, 2025.
Following Arvind Kumar’s retirement in 2022, Tapan Kumar Deka was named Director General of the Intelligence Bureau for a two-year term. The Intelligence Bureau’s Director General Tapan Kumar Deka was set to retire on June 30, 2024.
About Tapan Kumar Deka
Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Tapan Kumar Deka was recruited in 1988 from the Himachal Pradesh cadre. Before being named Director General of the Intelligence Bureau, he spent over twenty years working with the agency.
Tapan Deka oversaw the Intelligence Bureau’s Operations desk and tracked terrorists and religious radicalization for the previous 20 years before taking over as chief of the bureau.
The credit for breaking the back of the Indian Mujahideen terrorist organization goes to Tapan Deka. He was also part of the squad that looked into the terrorist organization from Pakistan’s 26/11 attacks on Mumbai.
About Intelligence Bureau
One of the world’s oldest intelligence agencies that is still in operation is the Intelligence Bureau.
The Central Special Branch, which the British government established on December 23, 1887, is the origin of the Intelligence Bureau.
Following its original designation as the Central Special Branch, the Central Criminal Intelligence Department, Central Intelligence Department, and Intelligence Bureau followed in 1918 and 1920, respectively.
The Intelligence Bureau is in charge of counterterrorism, counterintelligence, gathering intelligence near borders, safeguarding infrastructure, and preventing secession.
Internal security intelligence is gathered by the Intelligence Bureau, which then forwards it to the appropriate security authorities.
The Intelligence Bureau was in charge of both internal and external intelligence until 1968. In 1968, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&W), a recently established entity, was assigned the responsibility for external intelligence.
T.G. Sanjeevi Pillai was the first Indian to hold the position of Director General of the Intelligence Bureau (12 April 1947–July 1950).