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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  K.P.S. Gill, former Punjab police chief who tackled militancy, dies at 82
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K.P.S. Gill, former Punjab police chief who tackled militancy, dies at 82

K.P.S. Gill died of a sudden cardiac arrest caused by cardiac arrhythmia

K.P.S. Gill was suffering from end stage kidney failure and significant ischemic heart disease, his doctor said. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/MintPremium
K.P.S. Gill was suffering from end stage kidney failure and significant ischemic heart disease, his doctor said. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

New Delhi: Former Punjab Police chief Kanwar Pal Singh Gill, who played a key role in the fight against extremism in the northern state in the 1980s and 1990s, died on Friday in the capital’s Sir Gangaram Hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 82.

Gill, hospital officials said, had been diagnosed with end- stage kidney failure and significant cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). He passed away at 2:55 pm.

“KPS Gill will be remembered for his service to our nation in the fields of policing and security. Pained by his demise. My condolences," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a Twitter message.

The 1957 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer served twice as the director general of Punjab Police before retiring from the force in 1995, and subsequently became president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF).

His stint as Punjab police chief earned Gill the title “supercop." He served in the state between 1988 and 1990 and between 1991 and 1995, helping end Sikh extremist violence that raged in the state.

Gill spearheaded Operation Black Thunder in May 1988 to flush out militants hiding in the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine. The operation, which ended with more than 40 militants being killed and 67 surrendering, was acclaimed for the clinical precision with which it was carried out and earned him the Padma Shri in 1989.

Gill served in several posts after his retirement. He became security advisor to Narendra Modi when the latter was chief minister of Gujarat, following the 2002 riots in that state. In 2006, he became security advisor to the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh to help battle Maoist rebels.

He attracted his share of controversy. In August 1996, he was convicted of molesting a senior Punjab Indian Administrative Service officer at a party in 1988. In 2005, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction by the Punjab and Haryana high court, ordering him to pay Rs2 lakh in damages to the officer and Rs50,000 as costs.

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Published: 26 May 2017, 04:54 PM IST
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