By IANS,
New Delhi : Delhi Police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma who died after a shootout in Jamia Nagar while battling terrorists was Saturday cremated here with full police honours.
Sharma, 44, died while trying to enter a house in the congested locality in which five suspected militants had been holed up. Before succumbing to his injuries Sharma shot down two suspected terrorists.
A host of VIPs and politicians paid their last respects to Sharma whose cortege was taken from his house in west Delhi to the Nigambodh Ghat cremation ground. Senior leaders including L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Congress leader Sajjan Kumar were among those present.
Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, Lt. Governor Tejinder Khanna and Delhi Police chief Y.S. Dadwal along with police top brass were also present.
Scores of people from all walks of life lined the route and many had a tear in their eye while bidding farewell to a courageous cop.
Some even raised slogans “M.C. Sharma amar rahe” (Long Live M.C. Sharma) as his body arrived in a police van decked with marigold flowers.
Sharma’s cousin, Heera Ballabh, lit the funeral pyre while his septuagenarian father Narottam Sharma carried out the last rites.
“My son was a brave person and he was never scared of anyone,” said a stoic Narottam Sharma.
The inspector’s son, Devyanshu, 13, was in hospital with dengue. Sharma had dashed straight from the hospital to the Jamia Nagar house when he was called for duty, forgetting to put on his flak jacket in the process.
He was shot by the militants even as he fired back and took them on, receiving bullet wounds in his stomach, shoulder, arm and hip.