Newly appointed RAW chief, Ravi Sinha to head spy agency for 2 years

• Image Credit: Internet

• Jun 19, 2023 | Kabir Chakraborty

Sinha, who has worked in the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) for over two decades, is currently the organization's second-in-command. He was in charge of the operations wing before being elevated.

Digital Desk: Senior
IPS officer Ravi Sinha, an expert on neighbouring nations and operations, was
named the next chief of external espionage agency R&AW on Monday,
succeeding Samant Goel, whose four-year tenure ends on June 30.

The Appointments Committee
of the Cabinet has accepted the nomination of 59-year-old Sinha, a 1988 batch
IPS officer from Chhatisgarh, as the Secretary RAW for a two-year term,
according to an order released by the Ministry of Personnel.

Sinha, who has worked in the
Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) for over two decades, is currently the
organization's second-in-command. He was in charge of the operations wing
before being elevated.

Sinha's appointment, as a
specialist on countries in India's immediate vicinity, comes at a time when
Pakistan is politically and economically unstable, Sikh extremism is being
fanned from overseas, and attempts to incite violence are being made in the
northeast.

Sinha has previously served
in Jammu and Kashmir, the northeast, and overseas countries.

In June 2019, his
predecessor, Goel, was appointed R&AW chief for a two-year term. He was
later granted two one-year extensions in June 2021 and June 2022.

Goel, a Jammu and Kashmir
expert, is thought to have played a crucial part in organizing the February
2019 surgical attack in Pakistan's Balakot.

The surgical strike was
carried out to revenge the Pulwama terror incident, in which a suicide bomber
from Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) killed 40 Central Reserve Police
Force (CRPF) officers.

On February 26, 2019, the
Indian Air Force targeted a JeM terrorist training camp in Balakot in response
to the incident.