12 cops killed in one year in city

Twelve men of Delhi Police were killed on duty in the capital in the past one year. Two of them were shot dead by criminals in north-east Delhi’s Jafrabad.

On Tuesday, Delhi Police organised the Commemoration Day Parade at Kingsway Camp. In all, 662 police personnel were killed while serving their respective forces across the country.

Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi read out the names of 12 martyrs at the function at New Police Lines Ground.

Between September 1, 2013 and August 31, 2014 those who laid their lives in the line of duty were inspector Ashok Kumar, sub-inspector Hem Raj; head constables Ravinder Singh, Ashok Kumar and Mahavir Prasad; constables Praveen Chaudhary, Vinod Kumar, Mana Ram, Bintu, Prahalad Sahai Meena, Shiv Raj Singh and Vikas Kumar.

In December 2013, 48-year-old constable Vinod Kumar died after being attacked by bootleggers near Vasant Kunj in south Delhi. The attack took place when Vinod along with constable Sokhinder and two civilians, Pawan and Mukesh, reached the area while chasing two bootleggers carrying liquor in their car.

A group of 10-12 men surrounded Vinod and his colleagues and hurled stones at them. Vinod’s colleagues managed to flee, but he was caught and beaten to death.
In June, 24-year-old constable Mana Ram was killed after being run over and dragged several metres by an errant cabbie he had pulled up for speeding in west Delhi.

Ram was manning a busy traffic diversion at Zakhira flyover near Moti Nagar with a colleague when the incident took place.

The driver reversed his car and raced ahead, breaking the barricades. In an effort to stop him, Ram climbed on the car’s bonnet.Kant then drove for 150 metres before the constable was thrown off the bonnet and came under the wheels.

Retired Delhi Police commissioners M B Kaushal, T R Kakkar and Neeraj Kumar paid homage by laying wreaths at the memorial. Besides, retired IPS officers including Kiran Bedi, Deep Chand, UNB Rao, Aditya Arya, V Rajagopal and senior officers of Delhi Police also placed wreaths at the memorial.