Ranjan Kumar found a creative use for official police leave: enrolling in Bihar Police as "Santosh Kumar" and drawing salaries from two states simultaneously. When dismissed, the Jharkhand High Court reinstated him. The Supreme Court used the word "fraud."
In 2005, Ranjan Kumar joined the Jharkhand Police as a constable. In December 2007, while on officially sanctioned leave from his Jharkhand post, he enrolled in Bihar Police under a different name — Santosh Kumar — with fabricated parental details and forged credentials, and collected salaries from both state governments simultaneously. When the arrangement was discovered, Jharkhand Police dismissed him. The Jharkhand High Court then reinstated him, apparently finding no reason why one person cannot be a constable in two states. The Supreme Court disagreed: on May 8, 2026, a bench reversed the HC order, cancelled both police appointments simultaneously, and directed criminal proceedings — observing that "public employment, particularly in the police service, cannot be converted into an instrument of fraud." The constable is now dismissed from two forces, facing criminal action in two states, and presumably in need of a third alias.