Senior IPS officer Syed Asif Ibrahim will be the next director of the Intelligence Bureau, the first Muslim to head it, and Alok Joshi will be the new chief of RAW, official sources said on Sunday.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared the name of 59-year-old Ibrahim, a 1977 batch IPS officer from Madhya Pradesh cadre, who will take over as officer on special duty on December 1, a procedure for smooth transition of power from the incumbent director to the new one, sources said.
The name of Mr Ibrahim was cleared by the ACC and a formal order is expected to be out in a day or two, the sources added. He will be taking over from Nehchal Sandhu who retires on December 31.
Mr Ibrahim will have a fixed tenure of two years beginning on January 1, 2013.
Mr Joshi, a 1976 batch officer from Haryana cad-re, to succeed Sanjeev Tri-pathi as chief of the Rese-arch and Analysis Wing, an organisation entrusted with the task of gathering external intelligence.
Mr Joshi has served in the IB and the Haryana Police with key operations in Nepal and Pakistan to his credit.