Rajeev Kumar (police officer, born 1966)

• President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service
• Police Medal of Meritious Service
• 50th Independence Anniversary Medal
• 75th Independence Anniversary Medal

Rajeev Kumar PPM IPS
Director General of West Bengal Police
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 June 2025

Rajeev Kumar IPS PPM is an Indian police officer and bureaucrat, who is serving as the Director General of West Bengal Police, since July 2024. ^[1] Previously he served in the same post from December 2023 until was removed by Election Commission of India in March 2024. Prior to his office, he also served as Additional Chief Secretary in Information and Technology Department of the Government of West Bengal from December 2019 to June 2025. ^[2]

Early life

Birth and education

Kumar is from Uttar Pradesh. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from the University of Roorkee (now IIT-Roorkee). ^[3]

Early police career

Kumar joined the Indian police service in 1989 from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He also served as the Bidhannagar Police Commissioner and the Director of Special Task Force (STF), Kolkata Police. ^[4]

Kolkata Police (2016–2019)

He was briefly appointed as the Kolkata Police Commissioner from 14 February 2016 to 12 April 2016. In the 2016 elections in West Bengal, he was removed from the post by the Election Commission of India. He was later reinstated on 21 May 2016 and served until 19 February 2019. ^{[5] [6]}

Later career

He was the Additional Director of Criminal Investigation Department, West Bengal from 20 February 2019 until December 2019. He was then promoted to Principal Secretary of the Department of Information Technology, West Bengal until 2023. ^[7]

He was promoted to Director General of Police, West Bengal on 27 December 2023 on the superannuation of Manoj Malaviya batch of 1988 IPS.^{[ citation needed ]}

Controversies

In 2019, Kumar was accused by the CBI in the Supreme Court of tampering with electronic evidence related to the Saradha chit-fund case. ^[8] Though there is no accurate evidence against him. estimated 1.8 million depositors from West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha contributed an estimated Rs. 2,460 crore to the case. ^[9] It was discovered in 2012 when depositors began reporting suspicious activity to the police. ^{[10] [11]}

References

1. PTI (15 July 2024). "Bengal govt reinstates Rajeev Kumar as DGP". ThePrint. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
2. "Rajeev Kumar principal secretary in IT". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
3. "The importance of being IPS officer Rajeev Kumar — for either side". The Indian Express. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
4. "Rajeev Kumar reinstated as the Kolkata Police Chief after Mamata's return". The Indian Express. 22 May 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
5. "Rajeev Kumar Appointed As New Kolkata Police Commissioner". NDTV.com. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
6. "CBI Interrogates Kolkata Police Chief Rajeev Kumar in Shillong". The Wire. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
7. "After Bengal CID, former Kolkata top cop Rajeev Kumar gets charge of STF". Hindustan Times. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
8. "Saradha chit fund scam: CBI, West Bengal govt. spar over contempt case". The Hindu. 23 February 2021. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 27 December 2023.
9. "Rajeev Kumar: Kolkata Police chief who was once close to being moved to insignificant post by Mamata Banerjee". WION. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
10. "Saradha probe: Very serious revelations in CBI report on former Kolkata police chief, says SC". India Today. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
11. PTI (30 May 2019). "Former Kolkata top cop Rajeev Kumar moves Calcutta High Court for quashing of CBI notice". ThePrint. Retrieved 27 December 2023.