Who is IPS officer Ravi Sinha? All you need to know about new RAW chief

IPS officer Ravi Sinha was appointed as the Research and Analysis Wing chief on Monday, taking over from Samant Goel. The latter will complete his four year stint with the external spy agency on June 30. The 59-year-old is presently the organisation's second in command and has worked with R&AW for over two decades.

The 1988 batch IPS officer from Chhatisgarh had earlier been looking after the operations wing of the spy agency. The Ministry of Personnel has approved his appointment as Secretary RAW for a tenure of two years. He had earlier served in Jammu and Kashmir, the northeast as well as foreign countries.

He is an alumnus of an alumnus of St Stephen's College in Delhi and had previously been lauded for his tech-savvy approach to the field of intelligence collection. Sinha is expected to integrate technological and human intelligence dimensions to address the challenges of today's times in his new role.

Considered to be a specialist on countries in India's immediate neighbourhood, Sinha's appointment comes at a time when Pakistan is politically and economically unstable, Sikh extremism is being fanned from abroad and attempts are being made in the northeast to promote violence.

(With inputs from agencies)