Senior Indian Police Service officer Ashok Patnaik was appointed National Intelligence Grid chief on Wednesday, after the post lying vacant since May 2014, reported The Indian Express. The agency was set up by former home minister P Chidambaram after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to gather intel through integration of several databases.

The 1983-batch officer of Gujarat cadre is married to former prime minister Manmohan Singh's daughter. He was an additional director in the Intelligence Bureau earlier. “The appointment of CEO, NATGRID, will be effective from the date of assumption of charge of the post up to December 31, 2018, i.e. the date of his retirement on superannuation or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” a Home Ministry spokesperson told the English daily.

The Rs 3,400-crore project is a data transfer tool that aims at providing a complete profile of a suspect in terror-related cases. The agency holds information related to banks, credit cards, cellphone usage, immigration records, motor vehicle registrations, Income Tax records and National Crime Bureau records that can help investigating agencies solve a case. It was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in June 2011.