Punjab Police ex-DGP, prisons, Mohd Izhar Alam passes away

Alam died after a cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Mohali; last rites at Sirhind on Wednesday

Mohammad Izhar Alam, 73, a former director general of police, prisons, died after a cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Mohali on Tuesday.

Mohd Izhar Alam, a former DGP, prisons, of Punjab Police, was inducted into the Shiromani Akali Dal after his retirement. His wife, Farzana Nissara Khatoon, is a former SAD MLA from Malerkotla. (HT file photo)

He is survived by wife Farzana Nissara Khatoon, a former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA from Malerkotla, three sons and two daughters.

The 1972-batch Indian Police Service officer was a Padma Shri awardee.

He had a controversial stint during the decade of militancy in Punjab.

Despite opposition, former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal inducted Alam into the SAD on November 18, 2009, and appointed him chairman of the Punjab Wakf Board.

In the 2012 assembly elections, Farzana won the Malerkotla seat on the SAD ticket, defeating Razia Sultana of the Congress.

Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh also mourned the former DGP’s death.

The last rites will be performed in Sirhind on Wednesday.