Lt Gen Lt Gen Baggavalli Somashekar Raju on Friday was appointed as Vice Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army. He is set to take charge from May 1, 2022.
Lt Gen BS Raju will replace Lt Gen Manoj Pande who was appointed the 29th Chief of the Army Staff on April 18.
"General MM Naravane #COAS & All Ranks of #IndianArmy congratulate Lieutenant General BS Raju on being appointed as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff #VCOAS of #IndianArmy. Lt Gen BS Raju will assume the appointment of #VCOAS on 01 May 2022," wrote Additional Directorate General of Public Information, IHQ of MoD (Army) on Twitter.
He currently serves as the Director-General Military Operations (DGMO) at Army headquarters and previously was the Srinagar Corps Commander.
Reportedly, in a rare instance, this is the first time where a three-star officer will be taking over as Vice Chief before serving tenure as Army Commander.
Career:
Raju served as the 49th Commander of the XV Corps (Chinar Corps) from 1 March 2020 to 17 March 2021, assuming the post from Lieutenant General KJS Dhillon, UYSM, YSM, VSM.
Before taking over the charge of the Chinar Corps, he served as the Director-General of Staff Duties at Army HQ. He is also the Colonel of the Jat Regiment since 1 February 2021 after taking over from Lieutenant General S K Saini, the Vice Chief of Army Staff.
He has served as the brigade major of an infantry brigade and as the Colonel Military Secretary (Legal) at Army HQ.
He was commissioned in December 1984 in the 11th battalion, the Jat Regiment (11 Jat). He later commanded the 15th Battalion, the Jat Regiment (15 JAT).
He served as Commandant, Indian Military Training Team in Bhutan prior to assuming command of XV Corps.
He commanded the elite Counter Insurgency Force in troubled times from 28 March 2017 to 1 April 2018 post elimination of Burhan Wani, the poster boy of Hizbul Mujahideen.
It was during Lt Gen BS Raju's tenure as a Corps Commander that Chinar Corps established a Feedback & Grievances Helpline (9484101010).
(with sources inputs)
