C D Sahay, a Karnataka cadre IPS officer of the 1967 batch, will be the new chief of the Research and Analysis Wing -- India's external intelligence agency.

Sahay joined RAW on deputation in the 70s. He resigned from the police service and was absorbed in the Research and Analysis Service in the 80s.

He headed the RAW set-up in Jammu and Kashmir in the 90s. Promoted as special secretary in 2000, he was put in charge of the division responsible for analysis and operations relating to Pakistan and other Islamic countries. He was also a member of the team set up by the government to negotiate with the hijackers of an Indian Airlines aircraft in December, 1999.

Sahay will take over from Vikram Sood, who retires on March 31.

His senior in the agency, B S Bedi, is tipped to head a new Technical Intelligence Agency.

In fact, it was Bedi's new responsibility that paved the way for Sahay.

Bedi has been also functioning as special secretary in the Directorate General of Security and has been heading the directorate's Aviation Research Centre since 1998.

Though Bedi is due for retirement in seven months, he is likely to get a two-year tenure at TIA.

Bedi's military background and his expertise in technical intelligence made him an automatic choice to head the new agency.

TIA was born out of the recommendations of  a special task force on intelligence gathering headed by Jammu and Kashmir Governor and former RAW chief, Girish Chandra Saxena.

The task force was set up in May, 2000 and was asked to examine some suggestions made by the Kargil Review Committee vis-a-vis the country's intelligence apparatus.

The Intelligence Bureau, RAW and the intelligence directorates of the armed forces have their own capabilities as far as technical intelligence is concerned.

The Kargil Review Committee had recommended that a special Technical Intelligence Agency be created on the lines of the US National Security Agency.

While the review committee had recommended the transfer of present technical intelligence capabilities of various agencies to this new agency, the task force headed by Saxena did not approve the idea.

The TIA has now been mandated to meet the technical intelligence requirements of all agencies. It would also be responsible for future acquisition of new capabilities.