Chief of the Special Protection Group (SPG) Arun Kumar Siinha passed away at Gurgaon’s Medanta Hospital early Wednesday. An officer of Indian Police Service , Mr. Sinha was getting treatment in a private hospital where he breathed last. He was 61 years old. .
One of the senior officers said that IPS Arun Sinha was not well for the past few months and was being treated at the Medanta Cancer Institute. His family members were present in the hospital and other senior government officials and his batchmates have been informed about his death.
Arun Kumar Sinha, a Kerala cadre IPS officer of the 1987 batch, was the additional director general of police (Special Service and Traffic) in Kerala before joining the SPG in 2016. SPG takes care of the security of the Indian Prime Minister. Before the joining Mr. Sinha , there was no full-time chief of SPG for around 15 months.
IPS Arun Sinha was re-employed as Director of SPG a day before his scheduled superannuation on May 31 this year, after the Appointments Committee (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal. He was temporarily upgraded and ACC had cleared an extension of his service last year.
The top elite security force SPG was established in 1985. It is specially tasked to provide protection to India’s current and former Prime Ministers and their immediate family members. Later on the criteria was changed. It was formed in the wake of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination on 31 October 1984.
