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Vijaya Pushkarna
Vijaya Pushkarna

OBITUARY

Tribute to K.P.S. Gill: The passing away of a supercop

PTI5_26_2017_000087A [File photo] K.P.S Gill | PTI

Gill, who passed away yesterday, is credited with eliminating militancy from Punjab

Super cop. That's how he was described at the height of militancy in Punjab—when the first few militants were chased and killed—the first sign of a possible victory. 

At the Gazetted Officer's Mess of Sector 2 in Chandigarh, top cop K.P.S. Gill was entertaining film star Sridevi. "I have seen Mr India and Chandni 20 times as recently as last month," he told her as he unabashedly proclaimed he was a huge fan. Gill took her for a walk along the Sukhna Lake in his uniform, making way for a big photo opportunity and front-page box story the next day.

Many turned red-faced as the infamous bottom-pinching case involving IAS officer Rupam Deol Bajaj was far from over. But Gill cared a hoot. The state, which belonged to AK47-wielding militants by night and police by day, was slowly winning the battle against terrorism.

Later, after even the residual traces of militancy was wiped out from the state, Gill confessed he had never watched any movies of Sreedevi. But he had succeeded in his mission. The duo's photo had sent a message across the world that all was so well in the state, that the DGP had time to indulge in other matters.

With more and more “khadkoos” (militants) being hunt down by an aggressive police force under his leadership, Gill was also fast-gaining enemies among the Sikhs for alleged human rights violations. These encounters had also resulted in the loss of a few innocents lives. 

Gill was also presiding over enormous unaccounted funds to counter terrorism and slush operations. Allegations were abound against everyone else in the force of looting the fund and hapless civilians. However, there was not even a little finger raised against Gill.

His crime, however, was that he turned a blind eye against all these activities as long as he got loyalty and results—heads of terrorists such as Nishan Singh Makhoo and Gurbachan Singh Manochal.

His predecessor, another supercop, J.F. Ribeiro gave the slogan, “bullet for bullet”. Gill never gave any such slogans.

Unbelievably enough, he was a man of few words, and soft-spoken. But his actions spoke loudly.

His punishment in the bottom-pinching case thrilled Bajaj, the victim. But almost everyone in Punjab knew the punishment was actually to knock the wind out of the human rights lobby. 

The state turned a blind eye to these charges against the hero police officer who was hands on in many cases—from the killing fields of Assam to those in Punjab—wanting to personally interrogate the ideologues as much as those who killed in the name of Khalistan.

Gill's father was a chief engineer who was credited with a major role in the construction of the Bhakra Dam. The father, like much of the Sikh community, was against the supercop, for all the killings by the police. Interestingly, it was not Gill but his father who was the hero of the family, for the latter had built the dam. 

THE WEEK had done a cover story titled 'Death of a Hero' on former SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu following his alleged suicide. Apparently, Sandhu was unable to face cases pertaining to the years when the entire system, but the police, had collapsed. We said the system, including politicians and judiciary, had ran away. 

There were anonymous threat calls late in the night following the publication of the story. My call to Gill, to inform him of the threat calls, was met with a warm reassuring: “Don't worry. You are under my overall command.”

Police officers like him are born rarely, very rarely.

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Topics : #Punjab

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