Author: TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 20, 2008
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nation_mourns_gallant_cop_M_C_Sharma/articleshow/3504200.cms
At a time when most fathers would have stayed
beside their sick son's hospital bed, tend to his blood transfusion and ensure
that the dengue died down, Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma rushed to Jamia Nagar
from the hospital to raid a house where terrorists were holed up. He hadn't
gone home for three days, rushing from office to hospital and back and his
wife expected him to return on Friday evening finally. But home they brought
the warrior dead.
Sharma (42) was undoubtedly Delhi Police's
top shot terror fighter, after ACP Rajbir Singh had been murdered a few months
back. But he was no gunslinger. His forte was his technical expertise and
his surveillance prowess was unmatched in the force.
Winner of seven gallantry awards, including
the President's gallantry medal and 150 police rewards, Sharma, who moved
with extra protection, was credited with the killing of 35 terrorists and
the arrest of 80 others. ''We have lost our best man,'' said Joint commissioner
(special cell) Karnal Singh, his boss.
There was no big operation in the cell which
could be executed without Sharma and he delivered. Some of the cases he will
be remembered for include the Parliament attack, Red Fort shootout and Diwali
serial blasts. Sharma was instrumental in arrest of four Jaish-e-Mohammad
militants in February last year after an encounter at DDU Marg. He was also
involved in an encounter which saw the death of one of the most wanted terrorists,
Abu Hamza, at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in 2006 after the Diwali blasts.
On Friday morning, when he went into the L-18
house, Sharma was not wearing a bullet-proof jacket. His colleagues said he
had joined the team straight from a Dwarka hospital where his younger son
is battling dengue.
His two sons are studying in class VIII and
IX and a friend recalled that the cop, who was in line for a promotion to
ACP, wanted a change of job as he was looking forward to spending time with
his family. ''He wanted to teach his children and concentrate on their careers
as they were growing,'' recalled a friend.
Sharma had, in fact, sought leave to attend
to his son, but then came the Delhi blasts and he was back with his hand on
the holster. He was made the Investigating Officer in the case.
There was a time when Sharma and Rajbir were
inseparable. Together, they struck fear in the hearts of all anti-social elements.
They were looked upon as trigger-happy cops who would not refrain from shooting
if criminals crossed their paths.
Like all encounter cops, Sharma's career too
was not shorn of controversies. Sharma often cribbed that his onetime boss,
best friend and mentor Rajbir Singh alone got all the credit for their operations,
but death perhaps has restored the balance.
Sharma was often called called Delhi's encounter
cop number 2, after Rajbir. But after Rajbir's marginalisation and subsequent
death, Sharma was the mainstay of Delhi Police's fight against terrorism.
But some say the two had fallen out. When Rajbir was transferred out of the
special cell, many believed that special cell would no longer be the same,
but Sharma worked overtime to prove this wrong.
Even some of his senior officers grudged the
confidence he enjoyed with the chief of special cell. Sharma joined Delhi
Police in 1989 and, 6 years later, got an out-of-turn promotion to become
inspector. Sharma, however, came into his own after being transferred to the
special cell in 1998.
Opposition leader L K Advani, who visited
Holy Family Hospital, where Sharma died, said the latest incident had again
proved that the present government was not sensitive enough to ensure security
for the common man. ''How many more sacrifices are still needed?'' he said,
demanding that now ''at least'' punishment be meted out to the guilty, Mohammed
Afzal, in the Parliament attack case.
