Noted journalist Dileep Padgaonkar passes away

Noted journalist Dileep Padgaonkar, who was a member of the three-member interlocutors group for Jammu and Kashmir, passed away today after brief illness here.

72-year-old Padgaonkar, a former editor of The Times of India, was unwell for past several weeks and died at a hospital in Pune, family sources said.

Padgaonkar began his career in journalism at an early age and joined the Times of India as its Paris correspondent after receiving a doctorate in humanities in 1968.

He served the paper in various capacities before he was appointed its editor in 1988, a post he held for six years.