CURRICULUM VITAE OF NEERAJ KUMAR, IPS

Neeraj Kumar is an IPS officer of the 1976 batch of the AGMUT (Arunachal-Goa-Mizoram and other Union Territories) cadre. He studied at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi where he did his graduation in 1973 and post graduation in 1975, following which he joined the IPS.

On completion of his probation, he was first posted as ACP/Chankaya Puri in 1979. Subsequently, he served in Arunachal Pradesh as Superintendent of Police (Bomdila). He was summoned back to Delhi in 1982 for police arrangements to be made for the Asian Games, for which he received several commendations. He was later closely associated with the security arrangements during the Non Aligned Summit, 1983, followed by the Commonwealth Heads of Govt. (CHOGM) Meet. From 1982 to 1993 he served in the Delhi Police in various important assignments viz. Dy. Commissioner of Police/Traffic, Dy. Commissioner of Police/South and Dy. Commissioner of Police/Crime etc. His role in handling the 1984 riots was praised by various Commissions of Enquiry appointed by the Government to probe the role of the police during the riots. During his tenure in Traffic Police, he introduced several innovations including the Pre Paid Taxi service at the Airport (operational till date),free eye camp for truck drivers, introduction of micro-processor based traffic signals etc. As DCP/South, he is remembered as a people friendly DCP, who cracked the serial crimes being committed by members of an erstwhile criminal tribe in which citizens were being bludgeoned to death in their sleep, and, thereafter, looted. Ever since then the city has remained free of such crimes. He wrote two monographs on the modus operandi of the members of the erstwhile criminal tribe, which were used by various police forces grappling with the terror created by the gang.

His role in containing the rioters during the Mandal agitation in South Delhi was widely acknowledged and appreciated.

As DCP/Crime he unearthed the massive multi crore racket in state run lotteries in 1992. He wrote a monograph titled ‘A Matter of Chance’ bringing to light therein the various modus operandi being adopted by the scamsters. The document was presented before the Supreme Court by the MHA which led to the banning of lotteries in the country.

On promotion to the rank of Dy. Inspector General of Police in 1993, he proceeded on deputation to the Central Bureau of Investigation where he served until 2002. In the CBI, he dealt with a wide variety of cases involving terrorism, organized crime, economic offences and corruption. He led the investigations in the serial blasts which took place in Mumbai, which were handed over to the CBI by the Mumbai Police in Dec. 1993. Under his leadership, the Special Task Force (or STF, created in the CBI to investigate the case) arrested seven members of the Memon family and sixteen other absconders. The charge sheets filed, at the time by the CBI led to the conviction of 100 out of the 123 accused in the case.

Under his leadership, the STF also cracked the serial train blast cases of 1994, which occurred on the first anniversary of Babri Maszid demolition in various prestigious trains, and unearthed a terrorist outfit called Ahle Hadees. The trial ended in life sentence to all the fifteen arrested accused.

His tenure in the CBI is also highlighted by the solving of the Meenakshi Amman Temple Blast case of Madurai, the unearthing of the UTI Scam, the arrest and deportation of American Center attack mastermind Aftab Ansari from Dubai, the arrest of Abdul Lateef, a notorious underworld don of Gujarat; Romesh Sharma, a Dawood Ibrahim henchman masquerading as a politician based in Delhi; and the cracking of the Cricket match fixing scandal. Jagtar Singh Tara, the first accused to be nabbed in the assassination of the then Punjab CM Sardar Beant Singh, was arrested by him, which led to the unraveling of the entire conspiracy.

On repatriation to the Delhi Police in February 2002 he was posted as Joint Commissioner of Police / Special Cell, mainly responsible for tackling terrorism. During this tenure, he conducted several counter terror operations, many of which led to the neutralization of notorious Pakistani terrorists. These included the encounters at Ansal Plaza, Tughlaqabad Fort, Deenpur Village in Najafgarh, Millennium Park and Lotus Temple. Thereafter he was posted as Inspector General of Police / Mizoram.

On promotion he was posted as Director General of Police, Goa, where he launched a sustained campaign against illegal immigrants, drug mafia and the Russian mafia indulging in land grabbing, human trafficking etc. He masterminded the arrest of Tariq Ahmed Batlo, a Pakistan trained Kashmiri terrorist, who was tasked with an assignment to cause Bali like bombings in Goa. Serious terror incidents were prevented in the holiday haven as a result of this arrest. On his return to Delhi Police on transfer, as Special Commissioner of Police, he was responsible for the entire planning and execution of the police and security arrangements for the Commonwealth Games 2010, which have been widely appreciated.

As Director General (Prisons) where, besides toning up the jail administration, he has introduced several innovative measures like a literacy programme called “Padho aur Padhao”, in collaboration with the National Literacy Mission Authority, which has brought down illiteracy substantially; campus placement for reformed prisoners in which nearly four hundred inmates have been given jobs. He has also started a semi-open jail in Delhi. His latest initiative is “Sparsh”, a scheme for the welfare of nearly 2,500 inmates who do not get any visitors.

On 30th June 2012 (A.N.) he took over as commissioner of police Delhi from Sh. B.K.Gupta.

Foreign Training/ Assignments

He went to Tokyo (Japan) for three weeks in 1985 for a training programme on Traffic Police Management and attended a course on Post Blast Investigations organized by the FBI at Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1997.

He represented the country in the deliberations to elaborate the UN Convention on Trans-national Organized Crime in Vienna, Austria. He was handpicked to be the Conference Secretary when the World Interpol Conference took place in New Delhi in October 2007.

He has visited U.S.A., U.K, Germany, Australia, Israel, France, Japan, U.A.E, and various other countries for conferences, investigations and training programmes. In February, 2012 he was invited by the U.K. Government to share his experiences of organizing the security arrangements during Commonwealth Games 2010 for the benefit of the U.K. Police.

Medals

He received of the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1992 and President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 1999.

Other interests

His interests include reading, competitive pistol shooting and listening to music.