Nirendra Dev
The ‘tough cop’ as he is known to friends, Rajiv Singh hit headlines on Tuesday, as the Supreme Court summoned him for what is being stated as a ‘tardy’ investigation in heinous cases of murder, rape and various crimes in violence-hit Manipur.
“In order to help the Court to determine the nature of the investigation, we direct the DGP Manipur to be personally present on Monday, August 7, in the Supreme Court to aid the Court,” the order from a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said.
Rajiv Singh, a 1993 batch IPS officer of Tripura cadre, had replaced P. Doungel on June 1 as the DGP after Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the violence-hit Manipur.
Rajiv Singh has had vast experience in anti-militancy operations in Tripura as well as Maoist problems in Jharkhand.
He had once been posted as the CRPF IG of that region and also served with the CBI.
A cricket lover, Rajiv Singh also served in strife-torn Kosovo as a UN peacekeeping officer when those areas were up flames.
During his stint in various positions in Tripura, Rajiv Singh had earlier managed the “surrender” of militants in the state more than once.
Singh has also served as Director, Fire and Emergency Service and Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) of Tripura.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday also wanted to know if any erring policeman in Manipur has been arrested. “Did the DGP care to find out in all these months? What has he done?”
“Based on the preliminary data, it prima facie appears that investigation has been tardy with a considerable lapse between occurrence and the registration of the FIR, recording of witness statements and arrests have been few and far between,” the order said.
The three-member bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also mooted the formation of a judicial committee comprising retired judges to examine the allegations and cases.
During hearing the high profile case on Monday, at one point the CJI had said: “You also said there are about 6,000 FIRs. What is bifurcation? How many involve offences against women? How many offences against properties, and offences against places of worship?
(Nirendra Dev is a New Delhi-based journalist. He is also author of the books ‘The Talking Guns: North East India’, and ‘Modi to Moditva: An Uncensored Truth’. Views expressed are personal)
