Centre extends term of IB head, RAW chief by a year

Intelligence Bureau (IB) director Arvinda Kumar and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Samant Kumar Goel were on Thursday granted a year’s extension in service, an order issued by the appointments committee of Cabinet (ACC) said.

Kumar and Goel will continue to head their respective agencies till June 30, 2022, the order said. Their tenure was set to end on June 30 this year.

Goel is a 1984-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the Punjab cadre, and Kumar, a 1984-batch officer, belongs to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. The two were appointed to head the agencies in June 2019 for a fixed tenure of two years.

Kumar is an expert on counterterrorism and Kashmir. Goel was instrumental in India’s planning the 2019 Balakot strikes following the Pulwama attack by Jaish-e-Mohammad. He also played a key role in coordinating with the Army during the 2016 surgical strikes following the Uri attack.