Don’t assume that prime minister (PM) Manmohan Singh’s silence on some recent political upheavals is an indication that he wants to sit on the fence. The PM is acting swiftly to send out a message that he is not buckling under political pressure.
According to highly placed sources in the prime minister’s office, the country’s top four investigating agencies — Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) — will have new chiefs in two to four weeks. With this move, the PM has indirectly asserted that he does not play favourites.
Apart from not granting an extension to CBI director Ashwani Kumar, who retires at the end of this month, the PM has cracked the whip on the chief of the country’s most powerful spy agency, the NTRO.
The prime minister was adamant on getting rid of errant officers after DNA reported in September that two NTRO officers allegedly leaked sensitive information.
It is almost certain that Sanjeev Tripathi will be the new director of RAW. Tripathi is a seasoned officer and is number two in RAW at present. He will join a month before the retirement of incumbent KC Verma. The PM has decided to appoint Verma as chairman of the NTRO, which has been headless for a few months. The NTRO was part of RAW earlier, but was hived after the Kargil war. Today, it is more powerful than RAW.
Verma was scheduled to retire as RAW chief next month.
However, considering his vast experience in intelligence gathering and the home ministry where he worked under P Chidambaram, the PM has decided to give him a full three-year tenure.
Upright IPS officer Nischal Sandhu, who has a reputation of being a very competent worker, will replace Rajiv Mathur as IB chief. Three IPS officers, including AP Singh, special director, CBI, Sharad Sinha, chief of the National Investigation Agency, are in the fray for the post of CBI chief.
