1144 is definitely the wrong material. 4140 is a good choice, but as I mentioned previously, it depends greatly on the steel processing, bar processing, and heat treating. It can definitely achieve this type of surface hardness and case depth by induction hardening and quenching in a water + polymer mixture. A typical as-quenched hardness would be 53-58 HRC, which would then be tempered to 45-50 HRC. Optimally the steel would have low sulfur, below 0.010 mass %, but if machinability is needed, this can be increased to 0.015-0.020 %. This type of steel would be produced as a low S grade (below 0.010) initially, and then "sulfur-dosed" in the ladle to the specified level, and finally treated with CaSi wire in order to refine the morphology of the MnS inclusions into a globular shape instead of the long stringer type.
The steel bar needs to be produced to a surface defect limit, and tested by eddy current and/or magnetic particle methods. A typical limit for cold drawn bar that will be subsequently hardened and ground is 0.13 mm maximum. The steel will likely be cold drawn and possibly turned, ground, or ground and polished, depending on the exact needs. All of this will minimize the number & depth of surface defects like cracks, seams, etc. The best cold drawn bars are tested with 2 types of eddy current systems-- one is a comparator method for short defects and one is a rotating probe method for long defects.
Once the high quality steel bar has been suitably manufactured, the induction hardening and quenching processes need to be well controlled. The power should be as low as possible to reach the austenitizing temperature, without overheating. The scan speed should be as low as possible to allow for as much homogenization as possible, and to reduce the possibility for quench cracks. The quenchant needs to be a water + polymer mix, with a controlled concentration of 5-15% (typical) and a temperature > 20 C. Quenching into cold water produces cracks, and if this is the current process, it needs to be changed. The best process would involve grinding/polishing after hardening in order to remove any traces of surface defects.
Based on the above, it is possible to produce millions of induction hardened bars of the requirements you mentioned with exceedingly few cracks. Highly stressed applications should test the fullly processed parts with a non-destructive method such as eddy current, magnetic particle, etc.
