Chandigarh: Former Punjab Speaker and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Nirmal Singh Kahlon passed away in his sleep early Saturday. He was 79.

He was the Rural Development and Panchayat Minister from 1997 to 2002 and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 2007 to 2012.

Kahlon was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Amritsar, where he breathed his last.

SAD leaders -- Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal -- Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann expressed grief over death of Kahlon.

In 2011, he was acquitted in a case pertaining to the recruitment scam registered by the Vigilance Bureau in June 2002.

(IANS)