Intelligence Bureau may get its first Muslim chief 'S Asif Ibrahim'

New Delhi: Senior IPS officer S Asif Ibrahim is tipped to be the new Intelligence Bureau chief, the first Muslim to head the organisation, official sources said on Saturday night.

Asif, a 1977 batch IPS, made it to the top slot because of his wide range of experience in covering various departments of the organisation which mainly deal with intelligence pertaining to internal security, they said.   He succeeds Nehchal Sandhu who retires on December 31.

There were three officers senior to Asif in the IB who have been given different assignments — R N Gupta, Rajgopal, Yashovardhan Azad - all 1976 batch IPS officers while Jairaman is from the 1977 batch.  

They have been accommodated as OSD to Cabinet Secretary, chief of Joint Intelligence Committee, Secretary (Security), and director of National Police Academy respectively.

Formal orders of Ibrahim's appointment are expected to be issued on Monday. His name has been cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.