Two cops killed on duty, days after joining force

Thu, May 15 01:15 AM

It was a proud moment for their villages when Bharat Bhushan Sharma and Deepak Yadav were recently recruited as constables in the police force. But on Wednesday the same villagers attended the last rites of the boys, who were killed on Tuesday by one of the bombs that ripped through Jaipur.

"Two of my men were posted at the Kotwali police station at Choti Chaupar and one was serving at the Sanganeri Gate when the explosions took place," said Superintendent of Police (North) H.G. Raghavendra Suhasa. Sharma, 20, and Yadav, 21, were posted as sentries at the Kotwali police station.

Police said that the first blast at the wholesale flower market across from the police station at Choti Chaupar took them by surprise. "They ran outside to see what happened and before they could assess the situation the second bomb outside the police station porch took their lives," policemen said.

Like the other bombs, the RDX wrapped in a bag and triggered in the parking lot in front of the Kotwali police station. The ball bearings ripped through them.

The two boys were from the Kathumar and Kaithopur villages in the Alwar district, where they spent modest childhoods. Sharma had been recruited to the police force last year and had joined duty two days back.

Local MLA from Kathumar Ramesh Khinchi recalls him as being a responsible young man. "He was married only in February this year," he said.

"Before parting, he unusually sought the blessings of every family around his house," Khinchi said. Local administration officials said Yadav was the only son of a local school headmaster.

The third policeman, who died in the blast at Sanganeri Gate, was 41-year-old Shahnawaz from Lakshmangarh in Sikar. A police official at the Manak Chowk Police station captured the mood: "The bomb doesn't know religion; we lost our Hindu and Muslim brothers.

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