I met Arun Kumar Sinha for the first time in Dec 2017 during a musical evening in Delhi organised by our common dear friend Dr Vishwas Mehta IAS (former Chief Secretary of Kerala). Arun was already the Director of the Special Protection Group (SPG) then, a very prestigious and powerful post in the country. Yet he never threw his weight or power anywhere in the social gathering. He wore his greatness very lightly on his sleeves.

Audience that evening were a mixed group from different walks of life of varied backgrounds, ranks and social standing. Arun never cared or demanded for any special treatment or VIP treatment anywhere. Just like any other person in the audience, he waited for his turn and sang Kishore Kumar’s famous song ‘Meri Bheegi Bheegi Si’ beautifully and enthralled the audience. 

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SPG chief Arun Kumar Sinha passes away

He was perhaps one of the most grounded, unassuming and modest top cops our country has ever produced. He was a 1987 batch Kerala cadre IPS officer who served in many prominent roles all over Kerala. His own colleagues in the force would testify that he always silently did his work, detached from the credit part of it and remained low-profile and largely unknown to the media.

Arun was one of the key officers who was part of the PM contingent's one month advance visit to Sweden (before the actual visit of PM Narendra Modi for the First Indo-Nordic summit in 2018). Arun kindly invited me to visit him at the world famous Grand Hotel in Stockholm where he was staying. 

The Grand Hotel at Stockholm has been the much desired accommodation for all the Nobel Laureates which the Swedish Academy of Sciences have hosted over the years. Their guest list includes the biggest celebs from the world of public life, art, science and sports. I was certainly excited to get an entry into the hotel room where the legendary scientists like Paul Dirac, C V Raman and S Chandrasekhar have stayed before their Nobel Prize ceremony. 

Sinha’s room at the Grand Hotel was pretty grand (no surprises there!). But he did not seem carried away by all that posh world of glamour. He told me that he missed company for a smoke and academic conversations. So he took me downstairs carrying a bag himself, unpacked and lit a cigarette for me. Now this was an officer who did not care about ranks or protocol. At his rank and seniority, he could have used any number of sahayaks (helpers) to do even the most trivial jobs; but he never did. 

He has been to more than 50 countries by then and I told him that I envied him a bit for his VIP travel and stay and high flying life. And I added in jest that I wish I had his life. He instantly retorted in equal jest that his dream was to become a scientist and he wished he had my life. He spoke about his deep love for genetics and how he wished he could do some in-depth research in genes and the like. 

In 2019, he was part of the highly successful visit of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Bahrain. He kindly arranged an invitation for me for the PM’s public event but he did not meet me that day. He never compromised (no matter what may) on the discipline and rigour of SPG work whenever the PM was around. 

Whenever I met him in Delhi, outside his gruelling travel schedule, he was a relaxed man with interesting ideas about improving police work with the latest science and technology. Deep inside, he had a researcher's brain with a good sense of curiosity about all the latest advancements happening in the world of cybercrime, AI assisted traffic and forensic science. 

During COVID lockdown time, he used to call me once in a while and ask about my well being and also to know the ground conditions in Kerala during lockdown from an ordinary citizen's point of view. He was both an efficient officer to the state as well as a caring human being to his near and dear ones.

A few months back I heard that he is going through a difficult phase of life in terms of health and I sincerely wished and prayed that he would recover and come back to his ordinary self. He had a long way to go. 

With his untimely demise on Wednesday, India has lost a highly decorated and distinguished police officer. Moreover, his near and dear have lost a jolly good buddy in every sense of the word. 

As a three star general officer, may you gather even more stars in the sky and may your good soul rest in cosmic peace! Farewell to a strong cop with a gentle soul.