Sandhu is IB’s Officer on Special Duty

NEW DELHI - A month ahead of taking over as the head of the Intelligence Bureau, IPS officer Nehchal Sandhu will be posted as Officer on Special Duty in the country’s internal intelligence agency from Dec 1, the home ministry said.

Sandhu will take over as director, Intelligence Bureau, for a period of two years from Jan 1 to replace Rajiv Mathur, who retires Dec 31.

The order of the 58-year-old police officer’s appointment for the top post was cleared by the government last week.

A recipient of Indian Police Medal in 1988 and President’s Police’s Medal in 1998, the Bihar cadre officer has served in Punjab during the militancy and has long experience in handling the Jammu and Kashmir insurgency.

The tenure of Intelligence Bureau chiefs is fixed for a period of two years for operational reasons.