First Muslim IB chief, new RAW head & PM's letter on CBI director

1977 batch IPS officer Syed Asif Ibrahim, who used to be a highly efficient private secretary to then railway minister Madhavrao Scindia, is set to become India’s next Intelligence Bureau chief. Ibrahim, who will take charge on December 31, is going to be the first Muslim officer to be elevated to the coveted IB director’s post. The PM-headed Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has also picked up…

Ex-RAW official strips in Court room

Nisha Bhatia, a former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) official, caused a stir in Delhi High Court on Thursday when she attempted to undress twice before a High Court judge. Former director in cabinet secretariat claimed that she was frustrated at the frequent adjournments in a human trafficking case against her. 

Bhatia, wearing a jacket and trousers, went into the court room and bared her chest before she was forcibly taken away by women police constables.

The ex-RAW official in her 40s has claimed that her seniors in India’s external intelligence agency levelled false allegations against her after she had lodged complaints against them for sexually harassing her in August 2008. Earlier, she also made a suicide attempt in front of Prime Minister’s Office.

ED sends notices against crorepati IAS couple

Enforcement Directorate has issued a notice against the suspended Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS couple, Arvind and Tinoo Joshi, after it was discovered that they violated the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and bought 100 acres of agricultural land in Madhya Pradesh in the name of Arvind Joshi’s two NRI sisters without informing the Reserve Bank of India. Those properties could now be confiscated.

Action and Appointments

a) Maharashtra Governor on Thursday suspended the state Information Commissioner and former IAS Ramanand Tiwari whose name had cropped up in the Adarsh Housing Society scam. Another former IAS, Subhash Lalla, was forced to resign earlier for his alleged involvement in the scam.

b) Mona Singh, a 1990 batch IRS (I-T) has been appointed as Director in the department of personnel and training (DoPT), New Delhi, for a period of five years.

c) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved premature reversion of Ashok Kumar Sharma, a 1981 batch IFS, presently working as Senior Directing Staff(joint secretary level) in the National Defence College under the ministry of defence to his parent cadre by the end of December, 2010. 

Promotion of an IPS makes 7 senior officers of India’s external intelligence agency unhappy

SEVEN senior officials of India’s external intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) have gone on mass protest leave after IPS officer Avdesh Mathur was promoted as a special secretary, according to a report in an Indian television channel. The officials, all from Research and Analysis Service (RAS), were said to be unhappy after an IPS officer, considered to be an outsider, was promoted, indicating tensions between RAS and IPS officers in India’s crucial intelligence agency. All these RAS officials holding the rank of an additional secretary, were upset as Mr Mathur would now be their senior. The cabinet secretariat had already swung into action and tried to address the matter, according to the TV news item. In fact, the workload of India’s external intelligence agency RAW has increased during the last few weeks thanks to reports of Chinese incursions in the Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan’s firing in the border and Maoists’ spreading of anti-India message in Nepal.