Noida: Former Delhi Police commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma, who later became chief of the BSF, died after a brief illness at a private hospital here, his family said on Tuesday. He was 80.
Sharma is survived by his wife and two children.
According to Sharma’s son Yash, the 1966-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was admitted to Kailash Hospital in a critical condition on January 25. His cremation will be done in Delhi on Wednesday.
Credited with being one of the architects of Special Task Force (STF) in Uttar Pradesh, Sharma’s team eliminated notorious gangster Shriprakash Shukla in 1988.
An IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, he was brought from the state to lead the prestigious Delhi Police at a time when the national Capital had been on target list of terror groups operating
from Pakistan.
Sharma was the third outsider officer to lead the Delhi Police with the last one being SS Jog in 1985. He headed the Delhi Police from June 1999 to June 2002 after which he was appointed as Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF), which he headed till his retirement in 2004.
During his tenure as police commissioner, the Delhi Police, with the help of central intelligence agencies, cracked the 2001 Parliament and Red Fort terror attack cases.
Former commissioner of Delhi Police Neeraj Kumar remembered Sharma as a “brilliant officer” and a “good leader who gave ample elbow room to everybody to perform in their own way”.
Kumar, who worked with him as joint commissioner of police, recalled that it was “Sharma sir who brought me back from the CBI and wanted me to lead the special cell. Being an outsider did not prove a handicap for him”.
Former additional commissioner of police Ashok Chand, who was at the forefront of the special cell set up to counter terrorists from Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, also fondly remembered the contribution of Sharma.
“As a deputy commissioner of police (special cell), it was heartening to get encouragement from your top boss and he was always there to
guide us in difficult times,” recalled Chand.
After retirement, Sharma was living in Sector 44 in Noida. He was originally from UP’s Mirzapur district.