Gautam Kaul

Gautam Kaul was the Additional Commissioner of Police for Delhi's New Delhi Range in November 1984, in overall charge of the New Delhi, West and South districts (Mittal report, para 8.1). The report notes that he was a first cousin of Indira Gandhi and that, on hearing that she had been shot, he organised the investigation and the arrangements at AIIMS, at her residence and at Teen Murti House (para 8.2). Two inquiries examined his conduct.

Key moments

• 31 October to 1 November 1984: Mittal wrote that he was so engrossed at Teen Murti House that he did not realise the DCPs of the South and West districts were failing, and that he “completely ignored the West District” and never visited it (paras 8.3 and 8.7).
• 1 November 1984: he caught looters in Friends Colony and New Friends Colony. He told the committee that he and the DCP South arrested about 40 in two hours, and that he told the DCP to register as many cases as possible; Mittal found South District's records silent on the arrests and said the looters were apparently let off once his back was turned (paras 8.4 to 8.5). The Nanavati Commission's account has him apprehending 14 persons, whom the DCP appears to have let off (p. 73).
• 1 November 1984, Gurdwara Rakab Ganj: journalist Sanjay Suri told the Nanavati Commission that Kaul was present when a big mob tried to enter the gurdwara, “but he did nothing to prevent the mob from entering the Gurudwara and merely stood on one side” (p. 22). Kaul said he drove past after 3.30 p.m., found a group of about 40, threatened to return with an armed party, and stayed only 10 to 12 minutes (pp. 141 to 142). He answered the commission's Section 8B notice in writing in December 2003 (Ensaaf, p. 96).
• 9 February 2005: the Nanavati Commission found his account “not consistent with the other evidence” but, because Suri's times differed, declined to record a finding that he failed in his duty (pp. 142 to 143).
• November 2025: Manjinder Singh Sirsa asked the Delhi High Court to bring on record a report “said to have been submitted by Gautam Kaul” that, the petitioner says, notes Kamal Nath's presence at the gurdwara. Justice Ravinder Dudeja issued notice; Nath has denied all allegations (The Tribune, 19 November 2025).

What Mittal concluded: Mittal's report praises his response to the crisis and says he “did his best within his limitations” but was “let down badly by two of his Deputy Commissioners” (para 8.8). Chapter 8 ends without recommending action against him. She says his orders to register as many cases as possible, which Additional Commissioner H. C. Jatav countered with the opposite orders, were “surprisingly ignored” (para 12.10).

What he is remembered for: the Mittal report's account of looters caught and then released, and the question of what he saw at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj, which was back before the Delhi High Court in November 2025.