Kochi: Radha Vinod Raju, the first chief of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and one of India's finest police officers, died here early Thursday due to lung complications, a doctor said.
The 62-year-old is survived by his wife Achamma and two daughters, Renu and Sindhu.
Besides his mother tongue Konkani, he spoke English, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Malayalam.
Family sources said the final rites would take place at the Ravipuram crematorium. Until then, his body would be kept at his residence at Chilavanoor for people to pay their last respects.
A highly respected Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, Raju passed away around 3.40 a.m. at the Lake Shore Hospital, medical oncologist V.P. Gangadharan told IANS.
He had been admitted to the hospital Monday following a lung infection but the condition suddenly turned serious, necessitating a ventilator.
Gangadharan, who had been treating Raju for about a year, said the end came due to "severe complications" in the lung.
Raju, who also served with distinction in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), headed the operational wing of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to track down the killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
Raju earned his first laurels as a CBI officer in Kerala in 1983-89 when he solved some dragging corruption and murder cases.
He was posted in the Kashmir Valley when militancy erupted. After his stint in the CBI, he returned to Jammu and Kashmir before finally heading the NIA.
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