Asthana to take charge of BSF
nNEWDELHI: The Centre on Monday appointed Gujarat cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rakesh Asthana as the new director general of the Border Security Force (BSF), according to an official order.
The 1984 batch IPS officer, currently heading the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) with additional charge of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), is set to assume full-time charge of the BSF, deployed along the 2,280-km-long border with Pakistan.
S S Deswal, director general of the Indo-tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and a batchmate of Asthana, has been holding additional charge of the BSF since March.
Recent military tensions along the Line of Actual Control with China and “mischievous activities” by Pakistan prompted the government to appoint a fulltime BSF chief, said an official familiar with knowledge of the matter, requesting anonymity. India accuses Pakistan of attacking Indian border posts and settlements unprovoked and of trying to infiltrate members of terror groups into its territory.
Asthana will continue to hold additional charge of the NCB.
Asthana, a former special director of the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) and his then boss, CBI director Alok Verma, were embroiled in a bitter internecine fight in 2018 during which they levelled corruption allegations against each other. Asthana was exonerated of the charges by a court on March 7 this year.
Verma was removed from his post on January 10, 2019 by a high-powered committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Appointed director general, fire service, civil defence and home guards, Verma quit the police service .
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet also said 1986 batch IPS officer V S K Kaumudi, who is currently the director general of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, had been appointed special secretary (internal security) in the ministry of home affairs.
Another 1986 batch IPS officer, Jawed Akhtar, was named director general, fire services, civil defence and home guards.