PATNA: The file for the next director general of police of Bihar is moving again on the first floor of Sardar Patel Bhawan, and the timeline leaves just three months before the top police chair falls vacant. Senior IPS officer Vinay Kumar was appointed as the new Director General of Police of Bihar on Dec. 13, 2024, for a two-year term ending in late 2026. With that tenure concluding, the UPSC panel must be finalized by October.
At the top of that probable panel is senior IPS officer Kundan Krishnan.
The Frontrunner
Kundan Krishnan is a 1994-batch IPS officer and a native of Nalanda district. Official records list him as born on March 8, 1969, with a retirement date of March 31, 2029. He was previously repatriated from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), where he served as Additional Director General (ADG), at the request of the state government. He was subsequently posted as ADG (headquarters) and later appointed as DG (operations) for crime control with additional charge of the special branch.
Why He Leads
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Tenure Arithmetic and Stability: Supreme Court norms favor candidates who can complete a stable tenure without facing immediate superannuation. Kundan Krishnan’s retirement date of March 31, 2029, provides him with a clear operational runway spanning multiple years, circumventing the short-tenure bottlenecks affecting senior peers.
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Operational vs. Administrative Signaling: In the Bihar Police hierarchy, postings in Headquarters denote administrative trust, whereas assignments in Operations, Special Branch, and the Special Task Force (STF) serve as rigorous “war postings.” Krishnan’s current portfolio as DG (Operations) aligns directly with the profile required for state-level crime control.
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Inter-Governmental Acceptability: Krishnan’s prior central deputation as Additional Director General (ADG) with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)—and his subsequent repatriation at the explicit request of the state government—reflects a rare dual-alignment of trust from both New Delhi and the state administration.
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The Field
The current DGP-grade pool under consideration includes:
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Jitendra Singh Gangwar (1993)—DG Civil Defence
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Kundan Krishnan (1994) — DG Operations + Special Branch
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Pankaj Darad (1995)
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Amit Kumar Jain, R Malar Willy (1994 batch)
With the selection process moving forward, the administration faces a critical decision as the state prepares its panel for the transition.
