Bhubaneswar, April 13: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik mourned the death of former Indian Army officer and war veteran Lt General KP Dhal Samanta who passed away during treatment at a private hospital in New Delhi today.

Lt Gen Samanta, a veteran of the 1971 war, is a former Director General of the Rashtriya Rifle and member of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) at Kolkata. Gen Samanta has command experience in Siachen, Kargil, Operation RAKSHAK (Punjab) and in Operation PARAKRAM.

Other than combat and war experience, his in-service assignments provided challenges and opportunities in the fields of human resources management, material, equipment and financial management of more than thousands of cores. He was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) and Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) during his military service, in recognition of his outstanding performance while he was a Major General and Lieutenant General. He holds an MSc in Defence Studies from Madras University.