Mahesh Dixit appointed as Intelligence Bureau chief

• Senior IPS officer Mahesh Dixit was appointed as the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau.

• He will succeed Tapan Kumar Deka.

• Dixit will take charge on June 30.

• Deka was appointed as IB chief in June 2022 for two years. His term was extended twice in 2024 and 2025. 

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared Dixit’s appointment. He will have a two-year tenure.

• Dixit, a 1993-batch Indian Police Service officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, was serving as the Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau prior to this elevation.

• A qualified medical doctor-turned law enforcement professional, he brings nearly three decades of extensive experience within the premier internal intelligence agency, having managed diverse and sensitive portfolios ranging from operations in the northeast and Ladakh to anti-Naxal desks.

• He was heading the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau in Srinagar, where officials credit him with playing a pivotal role in maintaining internal stability in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370.

Intelligence Bureau

• The Intelligence Bureau (IB) was established in 1887.

• On December 23, 1887, the Central Special Branch was set up under orders issued in London by the Secretary of State for India. 

• The Central Special Branch was renamed as the Criminal Intelligence Bureau and, thereafter, as the Intelligence Bureau.

• The competence and expertise of the organisation were effectively re-purposed for ensuring internal security after Independence. 

• It functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

• Earlier, both internal and external intelligence were handled by the Intelligence Bureau. 

• The Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) was set up in September 1968.