Punjab-cadre officer Parag Jain new RAW chief, played key role in Op Sindoor

The government on Saturday appointed Parag Jain, a 1989-batch IPS officer of the Punjab cadre, credited with key intelligence operations during Operation Sindoor, as the next chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for two years.

He will succeed Ravi Sinha, who completes his tenure on June 30, and will take charge from July 1 onwards. Sinha is a 1988-batch IPS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre.

Jain is the second IPS officer from the Punjab cadre in the past six years to become RAW chief.

Earlier, Samant Kumar Goel, a 1984-batch IPS officer of the Punjab cadre, was the RAW chief from June 2019 till June 2023, which included two extensions of a year each.

Jain is currently heading the Aviation Research Centre, which played a vital role during Operation Sindoor by collecting intelligence on the Pakistani armed forces.

Jain has a vast experience of working with RAW, where he handled the Pakistan desk and was also posted in Jammu and Kashmir during the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

The Punjab-cadre IPS officer also played an important role in the Centre’s counter-terrorism strategy in the strife-torn UT.

Jain has also represented India in Canada and Sri Lanka. In Canada, he was in-charge of monitoring Khalistani terror modules operating from there.

His appointment assumes great significance, as it comes just two months after the terror attack in Pahalgam, where the government has admitted to intelligence failure. RAW's inability to anticipate the dastardly incident had cast a cloud over its reputation.

Especially so, as the agency had failed to judge the enormity of the threat, as Pakistani army chief Asim Munir had just days before the attack referred to Kashmir as the jugular vein of the country.

Considering the fact that Munir has now become a Field Marshal with terrorism high on his agenda, Jain will have his hands full as the new RAW chief.

RAW was in the news last year too when Indian citizen Vikash Yadav had been charged with directing a plot to murder pro-Khalistan and Sikhs for Justice chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannu in New York in 2023.

The US justice department, which had indicted Yadav in the case, had said before a New York court that Yadav was “employed by the Government of India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses India’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing”.

In addition, the Bangladesh crisis had also found the agency on the wrong foot.

In such a scenario, the country's premier external intelligence agency needs an image overhaul.

Jain's early career includes significant operational contributions during the peak of terrorism in Punjab, where he served as SSP and DIG in multiple districts.

As a young IPS officer, Jain led many operations during the terrorism era. Later, his experience and network helped police in checking terror networks and solving critical crimes, including the Reema Jain murder case of Ludhiana.

He had also served in Bathinda, Mansa and Hoshiarpur and as Chandigarh SSP.