Senior IPS officer Tapan Kumar Deka was on June 24 appointed as the director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) by the central government. Deka, a 1988 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre officer, will be replacing Arvind Kumar, whose tenure ends on June 30.
Deka will serve as the director of Intelligence Bureau for a tenure of two years from the date of taking charge, according to the official order issued by the Ministry of Personnel.
Tapan Deka currently heads the operations desk at the IB. He was elevated to the rank of special director in June last year. He has been at the forefront of tracking terrorists and religious radicalisation in the country for the past two decades.
Deka joined the IB in 1998 and since then he has handled many crucial cases, including terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, especially targeted killings in the Valley. He is known for his expertise in intelligence gathering across the troubled Northeast and he was sent by Home Minister Amit Shah to Assam after the anti-CAA protests broke out in the state in 2019.
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Known as a thorough professional, Deka was instrumental in tracking down the Mujahideen group network in the country and also he investigated the 26/11 terror attack cases.
The seasoned officer is known for his understanding of terrorism and jihadist networks across the country, including the Pakistan-backed groups in Kashmir.
Deka comes from a humble background and still maintains a strong connection with his roots in Assam. He holds a master’s degree in physics and cleared the IPS exam in his first attempt. During his student days, he was an active leader of All Assam Students’ Union and played an important role in the historic Assam movement between 1979 and 1985. He was awarded the President’s Police Medal in 2012.
