Man who captured Dacoit Malkhan Singh and terrorist Omar Sheikh to be next IB chief

The Central government on Monday announced that Syed Asif Ibrahim, a 1977 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) office of Madhya Pradesh cadre was appointed the Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Considered as one of the finest IPS officers and excellent in executing all kinds of operations, Ibrahim, a special director in IB has been posted now as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the IB with effect from December 1 and will take over the charge from present director IB, Nehchal Sandhu who retires on December 31, 2012.

A product of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Ibrahim joined IPS in 1977 and soon after his posting as SP, Datiya gained the title of Dacoit buster. He virtually wiped out all major dacoit gangs in the area, including dreaded dacoit Malkhan Singh.

Later, Ibrahim played a key role in apprehending British born dreaded terrorist of Pakistani descent Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh alias Mustafa Muhammad Ahmad, linked to various terrorist outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammed, al-Qaeda and Taliban, after he kidnapped western foreigners in 1994. Omar Sheikh was later released from capitivity in 1999 and provided safe passage in exchange for passengers aboard hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814.

Ibrahim also came very close in apprehending Ilyas Kashmiri in Delhi who later became one of the biggest threats. He was also the man behind blowing the cover of Maulana Masood Azhar, a Pakistani mujahiddin leader and the founder of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The government also announced appointing Yashovardhan Azad, 1976 IPS officer of MP cadre, presently working as special director, Intelligence Bureau as Secretary (Security).