Former NSG chief dies of Covid-19

JK DUTT HAD LED 26/11 MUMBAI COUNTER-TERROR OPERATION

Former NSG director general JK Dutt, who headed the commando force during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, died on Wednesday due to complications arising out of Covid-19. He was 72.

Family sources told PTI the retired IPS officer was admitted to the Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon on April 14 after his oxygen saturation started declining. “He passed away today at 3.30 pm after suffering a massive cardiac arrest,” one of them said.

Dutt is survived by his wife, a son, who works in Noida, and a daughter, who is based in the US. J or Jyoti Krishan Dutt was a 1971-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the West Bengal cadre.

He served as the DG of the National Security Guard (NSG) from August 2006 to February 2009, after which he retired from service.

He also worked in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and was once appointed as its officiating chief or director in 2005.

Dutt also had a stint with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). The NSG condoled his death through a message on Twitter. “NSG condoles the sad and untimely demise of (our) former DG and remembers his distinguished service to the Nation. He will always be remembered for his leadership during Op Black Tornado (Mumbai 2008). May Almighty rest his noble soul in eternal peace and give strength to his family to bear the loss,” the NSG said.

Dutt, along with about 200 ‘black cats’ commandos, had boarded an IL-76 aircraft of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC) to fly the first batch of the counter-terrorist strike force to Mumbai soon after the western metropolis reported multiple shootouts and public killings in the night of November 26, 2008.

Dutt had told PTI in an interview conducted in 2009 the force was under pressure to use tear gas during the 26/11 terror attacks but the idea was shot down for fear of a repeat of another Russian theatre disaster.