Rakesh Aggarwal Appointed Interim NIA Chief

Rakesh Aggarwal is a 1994-batch IPS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre currently serving as the Special Director General in the NIA.

He was appointed as the Special DG of the NIA on September 29, 2025, on an in-situ basis, by temporarily upgrading his existing Additional Director General (ADG) post for a two-year tenure or until further orders.

As per an Office Memorandum (OM) issued by the MHA late on Monday night, Aggarwal will now hold the additional charge of NIA Director General (DG) till the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

MHA Decision

The MHA's decision came after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the premature repatriation of Date, a 1990-batch Maharashtra cadre IPS officer, to his parent cadre with immediate effect.

Aggarwal’s appointment as interim DG is seen as an administrative measure to maintain stability and continuity in the agency.

Leadership Change

Aggarwal is considered to be a seasoned counter-terrorism and internal security professional with extensive experience in handling complex investigations. In his current position in the NIA, he has been associated with several high-profile cases involving terror financing, radicalisation networks and cross-border linkages.

Now with him at the helm of the NIA, Aggarwal is set to provide leadership at a time when the agency is engaged with an expanding mandate and increasingly sophisticated security challenges, which the country has been facing with every passing day.