Father of Agni missiles, RN Agarwal passes away

Hyderabad: RN Agarwal, regarded as the father of Agni missiles in the country, passed away here. He was 84. Agarwal, a recipient of the Padma Bhushan, died on Thursday following mild old-age related ailments, DRDO sources said. He had served as the Agni programme director and also as the director of ASL (Advanced Systems Laboratory) in Hyderabad. Former President A P J Abdul Kalam and ‘Missile Man’ of India had started IGMDP (Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme) and Agni was a key programme in it, the sources said. Agarwal was instrumental in initiating the Agni series of missiles, they said.