Mohan Chand Sharma

New Delhi, Sept. 19: Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma had rushed to Batla House straight from hospital — from the bedside of his 10-year-old son who is desperately battling dengue.

A couple of hours and a gunfight later, the 41-year-old police hero was himself being wheeled into another hospital, with three bullets in his stomach and one in the thigh. Some sources said he took a fifth bullet in his right arm.

By 6.45pm, the winner of 75-odd encounters, 150 medals and seven gallantry awards had lost his final battle: he was operated on and put on life support but had haemorrhaged too much blood, doctors said.

His son too lay critically ill this evening, officers said.

“He is our pride; he died a hero’s death,” Sharma’s uncle said. “For him, the police force was his family; it always came first. He gave up his life for the force, I’m sure that was what he wanted.”

“It is officers like your husband who make us all feel confident that our security is in safe hands,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to Sharma’s wife. “Your husband’s passing away is a great loss for our country and society.”

Sharma’s battle-hardened seniors choked back tears as they waited at the Holy Family Hospital to receive their slain colleague’s body and take it to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for the post-mortem.

“We have lost our best man,” joint commissioner of police (special cell) Karnail Singh said. “His father asked me how his son had died, where he was hit. I just couldn’t answer him.”

Sharma’s father and sister Heeradevi couldn’t speak a word.

Sharma, who was without a bullet-proof vest, had led his special cell team from the front, being the first to approach the house where the alleged militants were holed up.

Assistant commissioner Sanjeev Yadav, who had led Sharma during an inter-state operation in Jammu and Kashmir, was by his side during today’s encounter too.

“I have lost a friend. He took the initiative and went in first; Balwant (the head constable who was shot but is recovering) was close behind him. I couldn’t save him and this will haunt me all my life,” Yadav said.

Sharma had joined the force as a sub-inspector in 1989 and soon proved himself an able lieutenant to assistant commissioner Rajbir Singh, who was gunned down earlier this year.

Sharma’s team had pursued the militants involved in the December 2001 Parliament attack. He had taken part in encounters where 35 terrorists and 40 inter-state gangsters were killed, police sources said. He helped arrest 129 gangsters and 80 militants.

The officer, who won the President’s medal this year, is survived by his wife, ailing son and eight-year-old daughter.

Jaiprakash Associates, a leading industrial group, announced it would hand Rs 11 lakh to the family as a mark of respect for Sharma’s “exemplary courage”.

Sonia Gandhi sent a condolence message saying the officer had fought valiantly and sacrificed his life in the service of the country.

He was an “exceptionally brave officer who has been an inspiration to the security forces”, Manmohan Singh said.