Former Union Home Secretary and Lok Sabha MP from Arrah, Raj Kumar Singh is a no-nonsense person, who has had a distinguished four-decade career as an IAS officer, before becoming a full-time politician in 2013.
Singh, 64, first came to the limelight in 1990 when he was given the task of arresting L.K. Advani in Samastipur in Bihar when the BJP veteran was on his Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya, by the then Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The 1975 batch IAS officer joined the BJP after his retirement in 2013.
He served both in Bihar and at the Centre in different capacities, including as secretary defence production in the UPA government, as joint secretary in the Home Ministry, when Advani was the Home Minister, and head of the Bihar government’s departments of home, industries, public works and district magistrate of Patna.
He successfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Arrah. He is known for his contributions to schemes for modernisation of the police and prisons, and laying down a framework for disaster management.
It was during the tenure of Singh as Union Home Secretary, Mumbai attack terrorist Ajmal Kasab and Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru were hanged.
As Union Home Secretary, Singh also oversaw alleged saffron terror cases involving blasts in Malegaon and the Samjhauta Express and had courted controversy by releasing the names of some suspects.
He had also criticised the process of distribution of tickets by the BJP in 2015 Bihar assembly elections, which the party lost.
However, with his induction in the Modi ministry, Singh seems to have made up with the leadership and he has been rewarded for his administrative acumen.
A well-read man, Singh studied English literature at St. Stephens College, Delhi, and got a Bachelors Degree in Law thereafter.
He also went on to study at the RVB Delft University in the Netherlands. Before joining the IAS, he was selected to the Indian Police Service, where he had served one year.