C D Sahay was chief of Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, from April 1, 2003 to January 31, 2005. He is a Karnataka cadre IPS officer of the 1967 batch.
Sahay has been in R&AW since the 1970s. He headed the R&AW setup in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s. He was a member of the team set up by the Government to negotiate with the hijackers of an Indian Airlines aircraft in December, 1999. From 2000 to 2003, he was a Special Secretary in R&AW in charge of the division responsible for analysis and operations relating to Pakistan and other Islamic countries. He was also involved in negotiations centered around the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen's abortive ceasefire in July 2000.
In April 2003, he became the 15th chief of R&AW. He inaugurated the present headquarters of the agency in Lodhi Road, Delhi. He has undergone intelligence training in Israel and the United Kingdom. He is the first R&AW chief to have undergone intelligence training in Israel. His predecessors had undergone training only in the United States and the United Kingdom.
| Preceded by Vikram Sood |
Secretary (R) 2003–2005 |
Succeeded by P K H Tharakan |