Former BSF chief Rammohan passes away

Former BSF director general (DG) E N Rammohan passed away here on Sunday.  He was 77.

Family sources said Rammohan died early on Sunday morning at the AIIMS trauma centre.

He was admitted here around 10 days ago after meeting with an accident at his home and suffering a fracture in his ribs.  

Rammohan was also suffering from prostate cancer.

His last rites were performed at the Lodhi road crematorium by his family members. He is survived by his wife and daughter.

A host of serving and retired BSF officers paid their last respects to their former chief even as  he was given the  traditional last salute with gunshots fired in the air.

The paramilitary force, through its official Twitter handle, said, "a legend hangs his boots forever..."

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma paid his tributes to the police officer in a tweet saying, "Saddened by the demise of E.N.Rammohan, former Director General of Border Security Force. Rammohan, an IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, had served to the best of his ability be it in Meghalaya, Assam and our nation as a whole. May his soul rest in peace."

BSF chief K K Sharma said the former chief's death was a big loss for the country's largest border guarding force.

"He was a fine person, a thorough professional, man of integrity and known for his jawan-centric leadership. He used to lead from the front and he will always be remembered for his leadership style," Sharma said.

The 1965-batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre headed the BSF between December 1997  and November 2000 and he earlier served in the force as its Inspector General (Operations) at the force headquarters in Delhi.

Rammohan, who sported a handlebar mustache, was regularly seen on television news channels discussing internal security issues and was considered an expert in counter-insurgency operations given his wide exposure in the northeastern states and various central paramilitary forces.