Former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Ranjit Sinha lost his battle against Covid-19 on Friday morning in Delhi.
He was 68. Born in undivided Bihar, Ranjit Sinha joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1974, a year before Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in the country, and finished his police career as the head of the CBI in 2014, the year Narendra Modi became the prime minister.
40-YEAR-CAREER
Between two defining episodes of Indian politics, Ranjit Sinha served in several positions and waded through many controversies during his 40-year-career. During the early part of his career, Ranjit Sinha served as the superintendent of police in Ranchi (then in Bihar, now Jharkhand capital), Madhubani and Saharsa.
He earned a reputation with his adept handling of law and order situation including communal tension, crimes along international border, and naxal insurgency.
Ranjit Sinha handled terrorism situation in Jammu and Kashmir in 2000s. He was the IG (Operations) in the Kashmir Valley in 2005, when India and Pakistan launched Srinagar-Muzaffarnagar bus service.
By the time, Ranjit Sinha was appointed the CBI director in 2012, he had already headed two security forces — the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
His stint (November 2008-May 2011) with the RPF had many highlights of his career. Following 2008 Mumbai terror attack, he raised commando units, bomb disposal squads and quick reaction teams in the RPF for the protection of railways. But he also had his stint of controversy there, and of course beyond.
WHEN RANJIT SINHA MADE NEWS
Known for keeping a low profile in the IPS for a long time, Ranjit Sinha’s first brush with controversy came in 1996, when he was with the CBI. He was accused of scuttling investigation into the fodder scam to shield Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is now serving jail term in the fodder scam case.
The Patna High Court, which was monitoring the fodder scam investigation, removed Ranjit Sinha from the case. He later apologised before a legislative council committee in Bihar.
TIFF WITH MAMATA BANERJEE
In 2011, he had a tiff with Mamata Banerjee, who had resigned as railways minister to become West Bengal chief minister. As railways minister, Mamata Banerjee had the security cover of the RPF commandos, which she continued to have as a chief minister.
Ranjit Sinha objected to it. The Union home ministry concurred with him. But Mamata Banerjee took note of his objection. Ranjit Sinha was removed from the RPF and replaced by a junior officer. He remained without posting for about four months.
RANJIT SINHA’S CBI DAYS
During his stint as the CBI director, Ranjit Sinha braced through controversies over probe into the coal scam and a cash-for-post scandal that cost then Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal in 2013.
It was under his watch, the CBI was dubbed as “a caged parrot” by the Supreme Court in connection with the coal scam probe.
METICULOUS SECURITY ANALYST
But Ranjit Sinha would go down in the history of security establishment in the country as an IPS officer who overhauled the security set-up in the RPF and conducting a similar study for the ITPB.
He was considered so meticulous in his analysis of security arrangements that the government sent Ranjit Sinha to Taliban-tormented Afghanistan in 2008 to study the safety of infrastructure projects undertaken by India.
