Mahesh Dixit India’s first medical doctor turned Intelligence Chief

STC NEWS MONITORING DESK
SRINAGAR, JUNE 30 (STC): Senior IPS officer Dr. Mahesh Dixit today took charge as the new Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), succeeding Tapan Kumar Deka. He is perhaps the first medical doctor to become head of the country’s premier intelligence agency.
As already reported, Dixit is a 1993-batch IPS officer, and was appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet for a two-year tenure.
He is an outlier in the world of counter-terrorism, Naga insurgents, Kashmir militancy and left-wing extremism.
He has mostly served in the field by heading SIBs in Kohima and Patna apart from doing a foreign stint in Moscow.
He holds a postgraduate degree in medicine from Pune, and is perhaps the first doctor to take over as Director, Intelligence Bureau.
Dixit was ranked number 35 in the UPSC Civil Services merit list but chose not to opt for either the much sought after Indian Foreign Service or Indian Administrative Service and decided to join Indian Police Service in the 1993 batch in Andhra Pradesh cadre and then was allotted Telangana cadre after the state was divided. As an SP, he fought against Left Wing Extremism and then joined the Intelligence Bureau, only to handle rising Islamic terrorism in Hyderabad. It was due to efforts of the State IB and the State Police that Telangana had perhaps the best counter-terrorism unit in India with Hyderabad emerging the hub of Indian Mujahideen and pan-Islamic terrorist groups including HUJI.
During his 33 years of service, Dixit has mostly served in the field by heading SIBs in Kohima and Patna apart from doing a foreign stint in Moscow. However, the new DIB’s forte is counter-terrorism and has served nearly a decade handling Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar and the IB Headquarters in all capacities.
He has been responsible for snuffing out Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Kashmir.
He along with now Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar were key players in the abrogation of article 370 and 35 A in Jammu and Kashmir with Dixit also keeping a close watch on the 1597 km Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.
As head of IB’s Kashmir wing, Dixit played a significant role in neutralizing the Pakistani perpetrators of Pahalgam massacre as well as keeping the political temperatures in check in the Valley.

(Straight Talk Communications I Inputs from Agencies)