J&K vigilance commissioner Raju to head NIA

R V Raju, vigilance commissioner, Jammu and Kashmir, has been chosen to head the newly set up National Investigating Agency (NIA).

The appointment of Raju, J&K cadre IPS officer (1975 batch), as the first Director General of the NIA, was announced by the government today. An official release said that Raju’s tenure would be till 31 December 2010.

Raju was selected for the coveted job over two other contenders - A P Singh, Jharkhand cadre IPS officer, and S C Sinha, Haryana cadre, official sources said.

Union Home Minister P C Chidambaram had personally interviewed the three officers.

The NIA had been set up in the wake of the November 26 terrorist attack in Mumbai, which made the government set up this centralised agency to investigate into the crimes with national and international ramifications.

In the meanwhile, Chidambaram today said that NIA would not take up the Mumbai terrorist strike case as the "investigations were going on the right track."

Speaking to the media persons, Chimdabaram said that since cobbling a team at the NIA was likely to take some time and the agency would start functioning with a core group at the soonest.

He also said that the NIA would pick officers from the army and the police.