Veteran IPS officer V R Lakshminarayanan passed away due to age-related illness here on Sunday.
As the joint director of CBI, Lakshminarayanan had arrested former prime minister Indira Gandhi in a corruption case after the Emergency was lifted in 1977.
The 91-year-old was the brother of eminent jurist V R Krishna Iyer, who passed away in 2014.
The distinguished IPS officer, who retired as director general of police Tamil Nadu in 1985, is survived by his son Suresh Lakshminarayanan and two daughters, Usha Ravi and Rama Lakshminarayanan.
Known as VRL in his friends' circle, the retired IPS officer was known for his straight-forward attitude and his integrity. The 1951-batch IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre had begun his career as Assistant Superintendent of Police in Madurai.
Though he was one of the top-notch officers to have worked with the CBI, Lakshminarayanan could not head the premier investigation agency.
From the additional director of the CBI, he was appointed as the DGP of Tamil Nadu by the then chief minister M G Ramachandran in 1984.
The Indira incident
Lakshminarayanan is still known for his action of arresting Indira in a corruption case lodged under the Morarji Desai regime in 1977.
Indira had just been defeated in the general elections held after she revoked the Emergency.
Heading the team that was assigned to take Indira into custody, VRL had reached the then prime minister’s residence and had requested Rajiv Gandhi to ask his mother to surrender.
Recalling the incident in his memoirs, VRL had written that he told Rajiv that he did not want “the rude hands of a policeman to be laid on the sacred person of a lady who was a former prime minister and who also happens to be Nehru’s daughter".
“I had served you loyally and well and got two medals from your hands for meritorious and distinguished service,” VRL had told Indira when she had asked him where the handcuffs are, adding that he forgot to bring them.
Though he retired in the 1980s, VRL was quite active and had guided several IPS officers, besides delivering lectures and engaging with the fraternity.
VRL’s last rites will be performed on Tuesday morning at Anna Nagar crematorium.