KPS Gill never did fade away from Punjab after retirement as the state’s Director General of Police (DGP). The man, who’s name is synonymous with winning the fight against militancy in the state and who earned the sobriquet of ‘Supercop’, continued to earn his share of bouquets and brickbats well after shedding his police uniform.

An IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre of the 1958 batch, Gill was no stranger to controversy in his parent cadre as well. He faced a court case after a protester died after he was administered a few kicks by Gill, then the DGP of Assam. However, it was in Punjab, during his two tenures as the state DGP, 1988-90 and 1991-95, that Gill etched his name firmly as among those leading from the front in the fight against Khalistani militancy in the state.

The May 1988 Operation Black Thunder II in Amritsar was where Gill earned his first flush of fame in Punjab when he flushed out militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar by avoiding repeat of Operation Blue Star and the use of brute force. Determined not to repeat the mistakes of June 1984, Gill laid a siege to the Golden Temple, positioned snipers on surrounding rooftops and literally starved out the militants by cutting away their electricity supply and refusing them even a drop of water from the Temple’s ‘sarovar’. The snipers would pick their targets as they came to have a drink of water and soon the morale of the militants sapped and they surrendered.

KPS Gill, had long been accused of having turned a blind eye to the wanton killings which took place in the name of fighting the militants. Express Archive Photo

While KPS Gill is credited with giving a firm direction to the fight against militants, one of his his biggest achievements in those dark days was to give a spine to the crumbling morale of the Punjab Police personnel. The militants had begun targetting the families of police personnel and killing them in specific attacks, thus reducing the will to fight among the cops. Not only did he take resolute action in imposing retribution for the attack of cops’ families, but he also ensured that he was seen to be present at all high profile encounters taking place in the state and thus boosting the morale of the policemen under his command.

Gill’s methods of breaking the back of militancy, however, were not without criticism. He had long been accused of having turned a blind eye to the wanton killings which took place in the name of fighting the militants, the staged encounters, the mysterious disappearances and the formation of squads of Police ‘Cats’ or informers who identified potential targets. Gill was never held personally accountable for the lapses on part of the officers under his command even though many police officials of that period later faced trials for their acts.

Then Punjab DGP KPS Gill cycling at his residence in Delhi, January 1997. Express Archive Photo

Critics of Gill have also maintained that had it not been for the active deployment of the Indian Army in Operation Rakshak in Punjab, KPS Gill would never would have been able to achieve his aims. Gill, himself, however, always credited the Army with having played an important role and went on record on several occasions highlighting the close cooperation that he received from the Army and the liaison which was done between the Army’s Corps Headquarters in Jalandhar and the Punjab Police Headquarters in Chandigarh.

But for his act of indiscretion when he inappropriately touched a lady IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, got prosecuted for the offence and later convicted, KPS Gill was sure to have ended his career as a Governor of a state. His conviction, upheld by the Supreme Court, put paid to any Gubernatorial ambitions though he was appointed as security advisor in Gujarat by Modi after the riots which hit the state and also in Chhattisgarh to help fight the naxal issue.

In his later years, Gill remained occupied with the activities of the Indian Hockey Federation of which he was the president and the Institute of Conflict Management which he co-founded in New Delhi. Ill health plagued him for the last of his years but that did not deter him from making his occasional visits to Chandigarh where he made it a point to stay in the officers’ mess of the CRPF, of which he had once been the DGP.

Gill’s zest for the good things in life and his love for English and Urdu poetry were well known. In one of his last visits to Chandigarh, he dispelled the notion that he had now grown too old and was to kick the bucket anytime soon. In his own style, he recited the lines, “Gudaaz-e-ishq nahi kam jo main jawan na raha, vo hee aag hai par aag mein dhuaan na raha” (The fire of love burns in me still even though I am no longer young, it is but the same though not as fiery).

Then DGP Punjab KPS Gill with his force where Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, then chief of the Khalistan Liberation Force was killed in an encounter with security forces near Ludhiana on July 30, 1992. Express Archive Photo

 

KPS Gill, the then DGP of Punjab, boarding a helicopter. Express Archive Photo by Swadesh Talwar