Kashmir talks: 'National interest' will drive decisions, says new NIA chief

Yogesh Chander Modi is a 1984-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS officer.

Pic courtesy: @NIA_India

New Delhi: New chief of the National Investigation Agency​ (NIA), Yogesh Chander Modi, said on Monday that all decision would be taken in "national interest".

"We work under certain parameters of law but for us national interest is the most important thing. Everybody is working for national interest. So, whatever decision would be taken, it would be in the national interest," the agency's Director General, who took office on Monday, told the media, IANS reported. 

He was replying to a question if there would be any impact on the NIA's ongoing probe against Kashmiri separatist leaders after the appointment of former Intelligence Bureau chief Dineshwar Sharma as interlocutor for "sustainable dialogue" on Jammu and Kashmir.

"The NIA is the best investigation team in the country. I worked here for one month and I saw that our colleagues are exceptional in their investigative skills," Modi added.

#NIA_India
Shri Yogesh Chander Modi assumes charge of Dircetor General, National Invetigation Agencyhttps://t.co/A2k0Vie2WG pic.twitter.com/qVXxnKXnk6 — NIA India (@NIA_India) October 30, 2017

He is 1984-batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IPS officer. He succeeds Sharad Kumar whose tenure saw the agency probing some high-profile cases such as the Bodhgaya Temple blast, explosions during the Patna rally of the then BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the Pathankot airbase attack, ISIS links and the Jammu and Kashmir terror- funding case, as per PTI.

Modi was awarded with the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2001 and the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in the year 2008.

(With Agency inputs)