Radha Vinod Raju the veteran IPS Officer who passed away today is widely remembered as an honest and dedicated IPS Officer who played a crucial role in solving several complex cases. Here we present a short biography of him. Although he belonged to Jammu & Kashmir Cadre, he was born in Kochi on July 27 1949 and was commissioned as IPS Officer in 1975. Earlie he worked as a Probationary Officer in Bank of India.
A native of Kerala, he can speak several languages including Konkani, English, Hindu, Urdu, Tamil and Malayalam.
After joining the IPS in 1975, Raju joined the CBI in 1983. Among the various postings he held in Jammu and Kashmir have been SSP of Jammu district, deputy inspector general of south Kashmir range and the inspector general of Jammu zone.
He was part of the special investigating team that probed the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.After his return from the SIT set up to investigate the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, he was posted as inspector general of crime in Jammu and Kashmir in 1998.
He had another stint with the CBI in 2002 and also became a joint director there before returning to Srinagar in September last year as the vigilance commissioner of the state with the rank of the director general of police.
He was appointed as the first chief of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) upon its formation in 2009.
Over the years, Raju was recognised widely as an expert on terrorism and counter insurgency and as an authority on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Known for his secular credentials, Raju has vast experience of dealing both with routine crime investigations and terror related policing.
His juniors and colleagues know Raju as a modest, low profile, soft spoken person who never loses his cool.
“The whole mantra of crime investigation is simple. One must have the eyes and ears to be led from the crime scene to the criminal,” he once told while commenting on how he solved some of the most complex crimes during his long and chequered career in the state police.
Last month he was elected to The Central Vigilance Commission’ reconstituted an advisory board to assist the CBI in probing cases of bank, commercial and financial frauds.
SIT chief D.R. Karthikeyan and Raju were the joint authors of “Triumph of Justice – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination – The Investigation”, a book which meticulously details how they cracked the Gandhi case.
After retirement, he took an active role in addressing members of the strategic community and think-tanks on issues related to terrorism and security. He also wrote extensively on security issues.
Raju passed away around 3.40 a.m. at the Lake Shore Hospital, Kochi. He was suffering from severe complications in the lung. He would be cremated at Ravipuram crematorium.