[11] Murmu's career took off in 2004 when he was made joint secretary of the Gujarat Home Department, which was headed by Amit Shah and directly supervised by Narendra Modi.

Murmu has been described as "trusted aide" of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah since his bureaucratic assignments in Gujarat by many news outlets such as The Hindu, The Wire, Hindustan Times and News18 India.

[12][13][14][15] When Modi became prime minister, he called Murmu to New Delhi to finance ministry's expenditure department, where he served as joint secretary.

[12] The Tehelka magazine presented an audio recording where Murmu, along with senior law officer Kamal Trivedi and the then-junior home minister at the Centre, Praful Patel, were purportedly heard discussing methods to conceal the alleged fake encounter.

[16] Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Gita Mittal administered the oath of office at a function at Raj Bhavan.