Raju appointed head of NIA; other recruitments soon

New Delhi, Jan 15 (PTI) Director General (Vigilance) of India's northern state of Jammu and Kashmir Radha Vinod Raju was Thursday appointed as the first head of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), set up in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

A 1975-batch IPS officer, Raju's name for the post of
Director General of NIA was cleared by the Appointments'
Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Considered as finest of the officers in heading probe
of important cases, 59-year-old Raju's appointment is till
January 31, 2010. This post will be equivalent to that of
Additional Director General.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters that
Raju has been requested to join immediately and "quickly" and
recruit his core team.

"Government will recruit identified officers who have
got a track record in doing very good work in investigation,"
he said.

The NIA, set up in the aftermath of 26/11 Mumbai
terror attack, will, however, not probe the cases related to
strikes in the financial capital of the country.

"The Mumbai investigation is well on track. It has
made considerable progress. There is no need for transferring
it to NIA," he said.

When contacted, Raju told PTI over phone from Jammu
that he would give his best in discharging his duties.

Raju was associated with probes into the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case, hijacking of IC-814 case and Naval war
room leak. Serving as head of the Vigilance Bureau in Jammu
and Kashmir earlier, Raju streamlined the department which was
in shackles due to the ongoing militancy.

His investigation had brought to light the alleged
misappropriation done by Maulvi Ifthikar Hussain Ansari, a
former minister in Mufti Sayeed's cabinet. PTI SKL
PMR