26 Facts About Ajit Doval

Ajit Doval is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau and a former Indian Police Service officer from the Kerala cadre.

Ajit Doval worked as an undercover spy of the IB for a year in Pakistan, after which he served for six years as an officer in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Ajit Doval has spent most of his career as an IB spy.

Ajit Doval founded the Vivekananda International Foundation in December 2009, a right-of-centre think tank which he directed prior to his appointment as NSA.

Ajit Doval was born in 1945 in Ghiri Banelsyun village in Pauri Garhwal in the erstwhile United Provinces, now in Uttarakhand.

Ajit Doval received his early education at the Ajmer Military School in Ajmer, Rajasthan.

Ajit Doval graduated with a master's degree in economics from the Agra University in 1967.

Ajit Doval joined the Indian Police Service in 1968 in the Kerala cadre as the Assistant Superintendent of Police of Kottayam district.

Ajit Doval worked in Thalassery, Kerala, for a few months in 1972, before joining the central service.

Ajit Doval has the experience of being involved in the termination of all 15 hijackings of Indian Airlines aircraft from 1971 to 1999.

In 1988 during Operation Black Thunder, he infiltrated in Golden temple posing as an ISI agent, did espionage on Khalistani separatists, Ajit Doval gathered information about their weapons and made maps of their positions, he became an important member in their group gave wrong advices to them to sabotaged, which helped during Operation Bluestar.

Ajit Doval played a role in intelligence for Sikkim's merger with India.

Ajit Doval was trained under M K Narayanan, the third National Security Advisor of India for a brief period in counterterrorism operations.

Ajit Doval was part of the team which was sent to Kandahar, Afghanistan for negotiations to release passengers of hijacked aeroplane IC-814.

Ajit Doval was later appointed on the post of director of the Intelligence Bureau.

Ajit Doval has remained actively involved in the discourse on national security in India.

Ajit Doval has spoken internationally at global events, citing the ever-increasing need of co-operation between the major established and emerging powers of the world.

On 30 May 2014, Ajit Doval was appointed as India's fifth National Security Advisor.

In June 2014, Ajit Doval facilitated the return of 46 Indian nurses who were trapped in a hospital in Tikrit, Iraq, following the capture of Mosul by ISIL.

Ajit Doval, flew to Iraq on 25 June 2014 to understand the position on the ground and make high-level contacts in the Iraqi government.

Ajit Doval is widely credited for the doctrinal shift in Indian national security policy in relation to Pakistan.

Ajit Doval was one of the seven persons who knew about India's classified 2019 Balakot airstrike, including Indian Navy, Army, Airforce chiefs and prime minister Narendra Modi.

Ajit Doval is widely considered to be one of Modi's most powerful and trusted advisors, with major influence over India's national security and foreign affairs.

Ajit Doval was an instrumental figure in revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

On 26 February 2020, Ajit Doval walked the streets of riot-hit northeast Delhi to assess the situation and reassure the local residents.

On 15 September 2020, Ajit Doval walked out of a virtual SCO meeting after Pakistan projected a fictitious map omitting parts of India.