General Candeth, 'liberator of Goa', dies

Lieutenant General K P Candeth, former general officer commanding-in-chief, Western Command, and a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, died in sleep in Delhi on Monday.

Gen Candeth, 88, was popularly known as 'Liberator of Goa'. He was appointed military governor of Goa following the surrender of Portuguese forces on December 19, 1961.

He was a bachelor and leaves behind a sister.

Gen Candeth, who headed the Western Command during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, 'was hale and hearty and had even attended a dinner and played a game of bridge last night with his former army colleagues', Brigadier (retd) B D Mishra, convenor of the party's ex-servicemen cell, said.

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and party president M Venkaiah Naidu were among those who paid floral tributes to him at his Greater Kailash residence.

A member of the party's national executive, Candeth guided the BJP in matters related to defence and ex-servicemen's welfare, Mishra said.

Candeth's mortal remains will be consigned to flames at the Delhi Cantonment, he added.