It was the early hours of the morning after Holi in 2002. While the rest of the state was slowly waking up, Kundan Krishnan, who was then the Superintendent of Police of Bihar’s Saran district, his bodyguard Jitendra Singh and the then local Station House Officer Arjun Lal, made a choice that defied standard police protocol and became part of the state’s lore.
Scaling the high walls of the Chhapra jail complex, the IPS officer, the constable and the sub-inspector dropped onto the roof of the administrative building and descended into a hornet’s nest. Inside, the prison was in full revolt. Inmates were rioting and forced the jail administration out. They then turned the locked iron main gate into a potential firebomb by stacking gas cylinders against it in an effort to prevent authorities from coming in.
Kundan Krishnan, now the Director General (Operations) of Bihar Police, told The Indian Exress, “The prisoners had stacked cylinders behind the locked gate, ensuring that any attempt to cut through with gas cutters from the outside would trigger an explosion. There was no other way to clear the path. It could be done from the inside only. So, we had to scale the wall.”
Krishnan, Singh and Lal have now been awarded the Medal for Gallantry for their efforts on that day.
Kundan Krishnan, Director General (Operations) of Bihar Police
A prison under siege
The prison unrest was ignited on March 28, 2002, triggered by an order to transfer five notorious criminals to other prisons. For three days, 1,200 inmates held the complex hostage. Armed with improvised explosives and seized weapons, the inmates took control of the complex, damaging government property and assaulting staff. They transformed the jail into a fortress, perched on trees and rooftops, raining stones and “string bombs (improvised explosives)” on anyone who drew near.
“One of the BMP (Bihar Military Police) barracks was being broken,” Krishnan recalled. “Every time we tried to look over the wall using a fire engine ladder, they pelted us with stones and string bombs.”
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Located at the heart of Saran’s Chhapra town, the district jail is surrounded by broad roads. “Throughout the three-day standoff, supporters from the outside exploited the Holi festivities to throw supplies over the walls, keeping the uprising fuelled. The inmates had dug in,” the IPS officer said.
Water and electricity supplies were cut off to force the inmates to surrender, but two days of talks and efforts by the administration and local leaders failed to end the deadlock.
As news of the revolt spread, journalists from across the country arrived in Chhapra, while outside the jail, relatives of prisoners joined the unrest by pelting stones at security forces, the officer said.
By March 30, the Bihar government’s patience had run out, and Kundan Krishnan was tasked with taking the jail back.
‘Do-or-die situation’
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“There was pressure from every side,” Krishnan said. “It was a do-or-die situation.”
The IPS officer had planned a coordinated push and decided to go over the top. “The strategy was to enter the jail from three different points simultaneously to stretch the inmates’ attention and defences, so that at least one team could clear the door.”
However, two of the teams were unable to gain entry. “The other teams couldn’t climb from the other two planned locations,” Krishnan said, adding, “At that point, I decided we would go in ourselves… You can call it reckless or bold — but at that moment, there was no other way out of that situation.”
Armed with a carbine and accompanied only by Lal and Singh, Krishnan manoeuvred through the administrative block and down into the yard. Without immediate backup and surrounded by over 1,000 rioting inmates, the trio manually hauled the gas cylinders away from the barricaded gate, clearing the way for a gas cutting machine on the outside to finally slice through the entrance.
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As the rest of the force flooded in, what followed was a four-hour pitched battle as police used teargas, hand grenades and self-defence firing to disperse the rioters and prevent a mass jailbreak.
By the time the smoke cleared and the facility was secured, firearms, .315 bore cartridges, and remnants of crude bombs littered the yard. The operation left seven prisoners and 28 police personnel injured, while four inmates had died.
Krishnan was not unscathed. “A stone hit my finger and cracked the bone. Then a bomb exploded, it blew my shoe right off my foot,” he recalled with a chuckle.
Almost 24 years later, on Republic Day 2026, Kundan Krishnan has been awarded the Medal for Gallantry for his role in the Chhapra operation, alongside Arjun Lal, who retired as a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), and Jitendra Singh, currently serving as a sub-inspector in Patna.
Republic Day: Centre announces service medals, J-K and Maharashtra lead tally in gallantry awards
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The 1994-batch IPS officer had previously served as ADG of Bihar Police Headquarters and ADG in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), following his earlier tenure as head of police in multiple districts as SP and SSP, including Patna.
Meanwhile, two more Bihar Police officers were awarded the President’s Medal for Distinguished Service, and 17 got the Medal for Meritorious Service.
Additionally, two officers posted with the CBI in Patna in the Anti-Corruption Branch, DSP Ruby Chaudhary and Head Constable Bhola Rai, have also been awarded the Medal for Meritorious Service.
Bihar Director General of Police Vinay Kumar congratulated all medal winners.