The NaMo administration on Thursday cleared the appointment of three IPS officers as Deputy Director General, Narcotics Control Bureau namely; S K Jha (IPS:1989:MP), Anurag (IPS:1994:TR) and Mutha Ashok Jain (IPS:1995:UP). It may be noted that three out of five posts of DDG were vacant since March-April 2015. NCB's South Western Region is headless; and so is Eastern Region (DDG, ER). Two of the three posts of DDG fell vacant on 12 March 2016 after Vijaya Kumar (IPS:1987:TN) and Ranjan Kumar Sahu (IRS C&CE:1986) completed their tenure. Following the appointment of Taj Hassan (IPS:1987:UT) in February 2017 as DDG, NCB three three posts remained vacant. Having cleared the appointment of these three IPS officers NCB gathers operational strength, though the post of DG recently fell vacant following the appooinment of R r Bhatnagar as DG, CRPF. Reportedly, DG post too may be filled in a couple of months.