About
Personality - Dr. Rajeshwar Singh
Dr. Rajeshwar was born in Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh to Late Sh. Ran Bahadur Singh and Smt. Tara Singh on 11th March, 1973. Born after a brother and two sisters, his childhood was spent amidst love and prosperity. Mr. Ran Bahadur Singh was serving as a DIG when he retired from the Indian Police Service (IPS). For his exemplary service, he was honored with the President’s Bravery Medal, Distinguished and Police Medal for Meritorious Service. Dr. Rajeshwar Singh has been deeply motivated by his father’s dedication to his service and always wanted to follow in his footsteps. It is no wonder that his father played a crucial role in defining his personality and career goals.
Early Life: Brilliant in his academics, Rajeshwar Singh was equally attracted to arts and sports. He always earned praise with participation in artistic activities like speech competitions and debate competitions. He was always popular among teachers and students due to his multifaceted talent in his student life. Dr. Singh got selected in Uttar Pradesh Police after graduation in Mining Engineering from IIT Dhanbad. In the early years of his service, he felt the need to bring social consciousness in the service, and to fulfill this objective, he tried to connect the rules and principles of famous social scientists with the police service. To make police work more socially oriented, he completed his post-graduation in Sociology in 2003.
In order to make society aware of human rights and to make the partnership of dialogue between the police-public more meaningful, he wrote a research paper in 2011 on Human Rights – Police and Social Justice (a social scientific study based on District Allahabad). In this research paper, he discussed in detail the protection of the human rights of the public, as well as he also researched the human rights of the policemen. In his thesis, he initiated a new type of dialogue by vividly describing the rights of police personnel, protecting human rights, and their working conditions. After this, he received the Dr. in Philosophy.
Life Philosophy:
His opinion about education has always been that education is not connected to age, education can be achieved at any stage of life. One should not hesitate to acquire new knowledge to make his work more effective and keep himself updated with time. Taking this thinking forward, Dr. Singh completed his LLB in 2018.
As a Police Officer: In the early days of his career, Dr. Singh came across wanted criminals of that area. The crime in Lucknow and its surrounding area was at its peak in those days. Without caring for his life, Dr. Singh restored law and order in the district within a few months by bringing more than 30 criminals to book.
Taking some bold steps, he broke the backbone of organised crime in Uttar Pradesh, especially in Lucknow and Allahabad. Scared by DSP Rajeshwar’s name, the reputation of the police department also increased during his tenure. His incredible ability to eliminate criminals and uproot crime earned him the epithet like “Encounter-Specialist”. His graph of popularity surged when he put politically-backed criminals behind bars. Dr. Singh’s action against Ex-Chief Minister’s patron Atiq Ahmed earned him a lot of headlines and publicity. The bold step was an important effort towards breaking the delusions of politics and crime. He had to face the wrath of political transfers due to his strong actions, but he always stuck to his principles and moved forward on the path of duty.
Establishment of Crime Branch: The Establishment of Crime Branch in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow by Mr. Singh was an important step in the direction of curbing crime in the Lucknow region. Despite the paucity of funds, several criminals were caught and sent behind bars due to precise investigation by the Crime Branch.
Curb on Fake Bail Providers: Around 2005, there was a menace of fake bail providers at the Allahabad High Court. These bail providers used to take commission from criminals in return for false surety in court for bail. Dr. Rajeshwar Singh intelligently busted the unlawful business of these bail providers. In its remark on the successful campaign run by Dr. Singh, the Allahabad High Court said: “The success achieved by the investigation done by Mr. Rajeshwar Singh should be taken as an example by all the investigating agencies.”
Appointment in Enforcement Directorate:
Dr. Rajeshwar Singh took a giant leap when he was sent to ED on deputation in 2007. He was later absorbed in the Directorate in 2014. During his tenure, he exposed many financial frauds and scams. Some of the notable investigations during his nearly 15 years of service as an Enforcement Directorate officer and later as Joint Director of Lucknow Zone includes 2-G Spectrum Allocation Scam, Augusta-Westland Chopper Deal, Aircel Maxis Scam, Amrapali Scam, Ablaze Ponzi Scheme scam, Gomti Riverfront scam etc. Dr. Singh seized movable and immovable assets worth over Rs. 4,000 crores earned by politicians, bureaucrats, musclemen, and mafia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Besides that, he also served show-cause notices to people in cases related to movable and immovable property worth Rs. 20,000 crore under FEMA.
He was also the key officer who booked former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram in the 2-G spectrum allocation scam and Aircel Maxis case. Apart from them, he also sent many big political leaders like Om Prakash Chautala, Madhu Koda, Jagan Reddy, Mohammad Iqbal, Gayatri Prajapati, Azam Khan to jail under corruption and fraud cases.
He booked several mafia leaders in Uttar Pradesh like Atiq Ahmed, Mukhtar Ansari, Vijay Mishra under PMLA for illegally acquiring movable and immovable property worth crores of rupees. The investigations are still going on against all these leaders. Dr. Singh’s transparent work caught media attention. Dr. Singh’s work and his honesty became an ideal in every department. The addition of his name in any investigation was enough for anybody to lose his sleep. It is often said in life that there is no journey in life where there are no obstacles, there ain’t no stream where life doesn’t fluctuate. Several attempts were also made to sabotage the efforts of Dr. Rajeshwar Singh. He was transferred several times and various attempts were made to torture him mentally. Over hundred baseless complaints were filed against him. Hence, the Court itself took cognizance of the complete matter, declared the process to be a breach of its previous orders and said the following about Mr. Rajeshwar Singh:
“We are prima facie satisfied that an attempt has been made to interfere with the investigation being conducted by Shri Rajeshwar Singh in what has been described as 2G scam and related matters by trying to pressurize him not to proceed with the investigation qua certain individuals. Therefore, we take suo moto cognizance of and direct issue of notice. The documents annexed with this application show that every possible effort has been made to interfere with the investigation being conducted by Shri Rajeshwar Singh on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate. During the hearing, honorable Justice H L Dattoo commented, “We will pass an order asking you to give Mr. Singh permanent appointment with ED. This court has trusted this man for conducting the trial. Do you expect him to keep on fighting court cases and investigate the matter?”
Just after this, Dr. Rajeshwar Singh was absorbed in the ED in 2014 after the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
