Rajeev Kumar PPM IPS (b. 30 July 1966) is an Indian police officer and bureaucrat, who is serving as the Director General of West Bengal Police, since July 2024. Previously he served in the same post from December 2023 until was removed by

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

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 The Government of West Bengal, also known as the West Bengal Government, is the Administrative division, principal administrative authority of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal, created by the Constitution ...

from December 2019 to June 2025.

Early life

Birth and education

Kumar was born in 1966 in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. He earned a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a college graduate majoring in an engineering discipline at a higher education institution. In the United Kingdom, a Ba ...

in Computer Science from the University of Roorkee (now IIT-Roorkee).

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 The Kolkata Police () (formerly "Calcutta Police"), is the Law enforcement in India, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within the Kolkata metropolitan region, metropolitan area of the city of Kolkata, ...

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

. He was later reinstated on 21 May 2016 and served until 19 February 2019.

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. He was promoted to Director General of Police, West Bengal on 27 December 2023 on the superannuation of

Manoj Malaviya Manoj Malaviya is a 1986 batch Indian Police Service officer who is currently the State Police Advisor (SPA), West Bengal, an ex-cadre post equivalent to DGP rank. Before this he served as the Director General of West Bengal Police from August 20 ...

batch of 1988 IPS.

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. An estimated 1.8 million depositors from

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

and

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

contributed an estimated Rs. 2,460 crore to the case. It was discovered in 2012 when depositors began reporting suspicious activity to the police.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Rajeev Indian police officers 1966 births Living people Police officers from Kolkata IIT Roorkee alumni People charged with fraud Indian police chiefs