Tapan Deka is slated to take over as the next director general of Assam Police.
A 1988 batch IPS officer of Himachal cadre, Deka has spent the better part of his career in the Intelligence Bureau.
He has headed the IB’s counter-terrorism wing and was its representative in India’s embassy at Washington under consular cover.
Currently he is IB’s joint director in Northeast based in Guwahati but his promotion to Additional Director is already due.
He has not been in uniform since 1998 after joining the IB following initial stints in Himachal Pradesh police.
Deka was closely connected with the anti-ULFA operations in the 1990s and sometime thereafter.
Former IB chiefs like Ajit Doval, now NSA, are said to value Deka’s skill both as field operator and as analyst.
Deka’s elevation as the next Assam police DG puts paid the chances of senior Special DGs of the force like 1988 batch Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta.
Such choices have been made before when Jayanta Chowdhury, who served a long stint in IB, was made Assam police DG before he went on to head the National Security Guards.
