New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS): The Central government has appointed former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Anil Dhasmana as the head of the country's technical intelligence agency head on Friday.

Dhasmana, a 1981 batch IPS officer, has been appointed as National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) for two years.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cleared the appointment and the decision was formally conveyed to the retired IPS officer.

Dhasmana succeeds former Intelligence Bureau officer Satish Jha who demitted office on Thursday.

NTRO is the country's technical body that looks after geospatial intelligence and satellite imagery.

Dhasmana, a Madhya Pradesh cadre officer, was with RAW for the last 23 years. He retired in 2019. He was targeted along with serving RAW chief Samant Goel during the CBI controversy.

Dhasmana was amazed at how his best men were drawn to the controversy and his assets in Dubai were unnecessarily targeted.

He had clarified to that the government that he can't work in a condition where his men are not at ease to work. RAW was unnecessarily dragged into CBI controversy and many operations in neighbouring countries were hampered due to it.

He and Goel successfully launched operations like Balakot attack in Pakistan. They have been the backbone of the country's external intelligence agency.