Super, and controversial, top cop

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 26

Former Punjab DGP KPS Gill earned the title of a supercop by taking the terrorists head-on. At the same time, he remained in the eye of a storm over alleged police highhandedness, human rights violations and starting of a ‘police raj’ in Punjab.

Born at Gill village in Ludhiana district, he was originally an Assam-Meghalaya- cadre IPS officer who was picked for dealing with militancy after Operation Bluestar in 1984.

In 1988, he was the DGP when terrorists had again fortified the Golden Temple. Gill, who was not in favour of an armed attack on the holiest Sikh shrine, succesfully led Operation Black Thunder. Gill preferred cutting electricity and water supply to the premises to win the battle. He allowed media minute-by-minute coverage of the operation and pictures of militants coming out surrendering with arms above the heads were flashed across the world. He got the Padma Shri for his accomplishments.

In Gill’s second term from 1991, Chief Minister Beant Singh gave him a free hand for a full assault against terrorists. Journalists quoted him as saying that he believed in proactive counter-terrorism where the “battle is to be taken to the terrorist camps rather than to wait for them to come out and strike.”

Obituaries: 

• He stood by his men, say former colleagues
• Modi recalls Gill’s service to nation
• An exceptional leader
• He cared little for means, but still deserves credit

His piercing eyes and twirled moustache gave him the look of a hard-boiled police officer, but Gill was also known for his humour. Journalists recall him as an expert in Urdu and English poetry who cracked jokes and even laughed at jokes targeting the cops.

It was during his second term and later that he remained embroiled in controversies. From tiffs with his predecessors on police tactics to earning the wrath of human rights activists, Gill was accused of not reining in the officers who indulged in the killing of innocents for promotions.

The whereabouts of thousands of youths who had gone missing during his tenure are not known. Human rights activists, including Jaswant Singh Khalra, who took up their cases, went missing. Even an Akal Takht Jathedar, Gurdev Singh Kaonke, disappeared after being taken away by the police.

He was accused of molesting a woman IAS officer. He blamed his detractors for the controversies, but could not escape conviction by the Supreme Court. Still, Gill’s admirers grew.

Not meeting with success against terrorists always, Gill was accused by his seniors of incompetence leading to the killings of moderate Akali leader Sant Harchand Singh Longowal. Then, just before his retirement, Punjab Chief Minister Beant was killed in a bomb explosion.

After his retirement in 1995, Gill remained much in demand He was appointed security adviser in the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat Government in the wake of the 2002 riots. In 2008, he was hired for help against Maoists in Chhattisgarh.