NIA Officer Sanjeev K Singh who led Probe into Pathankot Attack Passes Away at Age 61

PTI, Oct 17, 2020, 8:00 PM IST

Retired IPS officer Sanjiv Kumar Singh, who led the probe into the 2016 terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force base while serving in the NIA, has died. He was 61. Singh, a 1987-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, died at a hospital in Gurgaon on Friday.

His former colleague in the central probe agency and Assam’s Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh tweeted about his passing away. “A sad day. We lost Sri Sanjeev Kumar Singh IPS 1987 batch to Dengue today. My mentor at @NIA_India he would always remain in thoughts. Rest in peace Sir,” G P Singh wrote.

The National Investigation Agency also condoled his death. “NIA Condoles Sad and Untimely Demise of Shri Sanjeev Kumar Singh IPS (1987 MP). Shri S. K. Singh served NIA for 7 years and stood for an indomitable spirit of Professionalism, Honesty and Commitment. May His Soul Rest in Peace,” the central probe agency said on its official Twitter handle.

The officer had retired from service in February. He last served with the Border Security Force as an ADG (eastern command) based in Kolkata, looking after the deployment of the force along the India-Bangladesh international border.

The officer had led the NIA probe in the 2016 terrorist attack on the Indian Air Force base in Punjab’s Pathankot and had escorted a joint investigation team of Pakistani officials, in March that year, who visited the air base as part of their own probe in the case.

The officer was a health enthusiast and his last Twitter post on June 14, 2018 has a video where he can be seen doing pull-ups and push-ups as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fitness challenge to IPS officers. He has also served as ADG (Naxal operations) in Madhya Pradesh after his deputation with the NIA ended.

The IPS association, the Madhya Pradesh DGP and the BSF also condoled his death on their official Twitter handles.