Author of books on Ayodhya and a key mediator in temple row, known Bihar police officer dead

In caste-bound Bihar, Kunal’s other big achievement was paving the way for the official appointment of the first-ever Dalit priest in any temple in the state in 1993, under his tenure as head of the Bihar State Board of Religious Trust.

At the same time, the Gujarat cadre IPS officer, was known as a tough police officer, who earned professional laurels for investigating cases such as the Shwetnisha Trivedi ‘Bobby’ murder, when he was Patna Superintendent of Police, and for taking on the dacoits of Rohtas as its police chief.

After he took voluntary retirement in 2001, Kunal earned a name for philanthropy and academic research, including for authoring two books, Ayodhya Revisited, and Ayodhya Beyond Evidences.

In his biography Daman Takshkon Ka, written by his son Saayan Kunal, the former police officer recounted his association with the Ayodhya dispute.

“It was during my study leave (October 1988 to October 1990) that I got a call from Union Minister of State in the V P Singh government Subodh Kant Sahay (an MP from Ranchi, then in Bihar), who asked me to assist the government on its official position the in Ayodhya matter.”

Kunal talked about an excavation in the 1970s finding “evidence of a temple adjacent to Babri Mosque”, and that then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi advised the digging to be stopped “immediately… as it could cause tension, uproar and open a Pandora’s box”.

He also claimed to have met Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham pontiff Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamigal, and convinced him to call “all parties to sit together to find a solution”, and then met Delhi Jama Masjid’s Shahi Imam Abdullah Bukhari, who issued a similar appeal.

As per Kunal, after efforts by PM V P Singh and Chandra Shekhar to resolve the matter failed, he was again employed by PM Rao after a small break. When the matter went to court, the officer continued his research on Ayodhya and his book Ayodhya Revisited and a map was presented to the Supreme Court in support of the temple claim at the disputed site.

Former Chief Justice of India M N Venkatachaliah wrote in the foreword of the book: “The work of Kunal might help one understand the historic background and antecedents of the dispute with a little more clarity and a little less emotive self righteousness.”

After he took VRS in 2001, Kunal was Vice-Chancellor of KSD Sanskrit University for a while and was later made president of the Bihar State Board of Religious Trust. Apart from opening the doors to priesthood for Dalits in Bihar temples, the trust under Kunal registered several temples with it to stop the mismanagement of their funds and land.

Kunal’s son and biographer Saayan is married to Shambhavi Choudhary, the daughter of Bihar Dalit leader and minister Ashok Kumar Choudhary. Elected from Samastipur as an LJP MP this time, Shambhavi is among the youngest MPs in the current Parliament.

Kunal was the founder secretary of Patna’s Mahavir Mandir Trust which runs three charitable hospitals in Patna. His family also runs a chain of schools in Patna.

Currently, he was involved in the construction of what will be one of the biggest temples in India, a ‘Virat Ramayana Temple’ near Kesaria in East Champaran.

Expressing his condolences, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar described Kunal as “an able administrator, whose death has left an irreparable loss in the administrative and social fields”.

Leader of the Opposition and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said: “Acharya ji played an important role in the educational, religious and social fields.”