MUMBAI: Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya, the country’s first woman Director General of Police whose life story was adapted for a teleserial ‘Udaan’ on Doordarshan in the ’80s, died after a protracted illness at a private Mumbai hospital late night Monday.
A Presidents distinguished services awardee in 1997, Bhattacharya, 72, is survived by her husband and two daughters. Her last rites will be performed in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Uttarakhand Police force, which she led from 2004 to 2007 paid homage, even as the IPS Association in a tweet remembered the “sterling qualities of head and heart”.
Born in Himachal Pradesh, Chaudhary was the country’s second woman IPS officer after Kiran Bedi and handled several sensitive cases, including the killing of national badminton champion Syed Modi and the Reliance-Bombay Dyeing case. She also served as IG, CISF. Post-retirement, she joined AAP.
Shweta Chaubey, SP City of Dehradun, who was among the first IPS batch of 2005 for Uttarakhand said Bhattacharya did everything she could to empower women.
“She designed our course module, organized first all India conference of women officers in Mussoorie and sent us to best training colleges. She was a tough woman but always understood the issues women face in balancing job and family,” said Chaubey.