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From militia legacy to IPS: Granddaughter of slain Ranbir Sena chief Barmeshwar Mukhiya clears UPSC
The village, along with Belaur and Ekbari in Bhojpur, saw a series of brutal caste-based massacres that continued even as late as 2003.
Aakhanksha Singh beside the portrait of her grandfather Barmeshwar Mukhiya, chief of the disbanded militia Ranbir Sena.
Aakanksha Singh, granddaughter of slain Ranbir Sena chief Barmeshwar Mukhiya, has secured the 301st rank in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination 2025, qualifying for training in the Indian Police Service (IPS).
UPSC makes it clear who got rank 301
The Ranbir Sena, a disbanded private upper-caste militia, was engaged in a series of caste wars in the 1990s, often pitting it against the erstwhile far-left insurgents, the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). Barmeshwar, who was killed in 2012, belonged to a family from Khopira village of Bhojpur and had notoriously urged upper-caste people to “sell gold to buy pistols (sona becho, loha kharido)” at the height of the Bihar caste wars.
The village, along with Belaur and Ekbari in Bhojpur, saw a series of brutal caste-based massacres that continued even as late as 2003.
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Aakanksha studied at Catholic High School in Ara, completing Class 10 in 2017. She later did a BA in English honours at Harprasad Das Jain College of Veer Kunwar Singh University in Ara, moved to Patna for preparation, and cleared the UPSC in her second attempt. She also briefly taught at a local school.
“While my success is down to hard labour, my family had a small part,” she told The Indian Express, adding that she was “greatly inspired by the grit and resilience of cricketer Virat Kohli”.
Aakanksha’s father, Indubhushan Singh — a farmer — told The Indian Express that it was an “emotional” moment.
“I’m overwhelmed by people’s phone calls and wishes. Aakanksha is the daughter of society, and will contribute towards nation building,” he said, while a cousin by marriage, Anupama Singh, added: “She has brought pride to Bhojpur and Bihar.”
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A retired IPS officer who was formerly posted in Bihar’s Maoist-hit areas described it as “the circle of history”.
“There was a time [during the caste wars] when the police used to say that their mandate was only to remove bodies from strife-torn areas. Now, the granddaughter of the disbanded Ranbir Sena chief will have the responsibility of enforcing the rule of law”.
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