Self-styled leader of the so-called 'Khalistan movement' Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan died on Wednesday at his residence-cum-clinic in his village Nangal Khunga in Tanda township, 32 km away from Jalandhar as he was getting ready to go and meet the superintendent of police of the area.

Eighty-year-old MBBS-qualified Chohan was once finance minister of the state government before he went to England and raised the banner of Khalistan for the first time alleging that Sikhs in India were being treated as second rate citizens, and misled young Sikhs to take up arms against the state.

Chohan first got elected on the Republic Party of India ticket in 1967 to the state Assembly and became deputy speaker in the Akali-led coalition government and later in the Lachman Singh Gill government, he became finance minister.

His migration to United in Kingdom in 1971 and his subsequent return in 1977 went unnoticed until he raised the Khalistan issue at a public rally in 1977.

Surprisingly, no action was taken against him and he managed to slip out of India in 1980. On his return to India in June 2001, Chohan admitted that he was working at the behest of the Inter Services Intelligence.

Married to Charanjit Kaur, who was in London at the time of his death, the couple had no child of their own.

"After my return, I have realised that there is no point in trying to achieve your goal with violence," he told rediff.com in an exclusive interview.

Self-styled chairman of the Council of Khalistan, Chohan had several cases of sedition registered against him, the last one was in June 2005.