Balakot Air Strike Strategist Samant Goel Appointed New R&AW Chief
- by Suramya-Kaushik
- Jun 27, 2019 14:46
The Balakot Air Strike that occurred recently was strategized by Samant Goel who is now been appointed as the head of India’s foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) on Wednesday, 26 June. This appointment is also accompanied with the appointment of Arvind Kumar, the new Director of the Intelligence Bureau. The appointments were made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also acts as the Chairman of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
Samant Goel is an IPS officer from the 1984 batch of the Punjab cadre who was heading operations for R&AW by being the mastermind of planning behind Indian Air Force’s Balakot air strikes on Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) camp on 26 February. He had also played key role in planning 2016 surgical strikes carried after the Uri terror attack. Goel has also been involved in handling Punjab Militancy issue in 1990s. Goel is a Pakistani expert who’ll now be replacing Anil Dhasmana as the chief of the premier spy agency.
Arvind Kumar is also a 1984 batch IPS officer heading from Assam-Meghalaya cadre. He held a special director rank at the IB and has been closely linked in tackling left-wing extremism for the bureau. He’s also been considered the IB’s Kashmir expert. Arvind Kumar will now be replacing Rajiv Jain as the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau.
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