THERE WERE over 50 passengers in the Meerut-Delhi DTC bus in which the robbery took place.
Only two people chose to take on the armed robbers. While bus conductor Preetam Singh was shot at and killed on the spot, constable Ramesh Chand Verma is being treated at hospital.
According to the eyewitnesses, Verma not only raised his voice but also held one of the robbers by his waist. Finding his partner in crime in distress, the other robber shot at Verma. The bullet entered his body just below the waist, made its way through the left kidney and stopped just below the heart. Posted at Civil Lines police station in Meerut, Verma was coming back to his Nand Gram residence in Ghaziabad after doing double shift.
“He is one of the honest policemen in service. Verma has the habit of doing his level best to help out people in distress. That is why he took on the robbers to help the jeweller,” said Krishna Kumar Tyagi, his colleague.
According to doctors at Yashoda Hospital, Verma has already been operated upon and has been kept under 48hour observation. “We have removed his left kidney and spleen. He has been kept under observation,” said a doctor attending on him. atulmathur@hindustantimes.com
FOR RAGURAJ Singh, a police sub-inspector who collated the initial information that led to the busting of the Rs 100-crore global kidney racket, last Saturday was a very special day That day, friends and wellwishers thronged the Mudha Pandey police station to congratulate him: he had been made “in-charge” of the police station, his first posting in that capacity Singh was an active member of the team that busted the racket and won praise for the Moradabad Police by uncovering people linked to the racket whose roots were traced overseas.
The young officer applied his wits to develop the case information along with other team members. “We worked hard to expose the entire gang,” said Singh. Singh gave credit to senior officials, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Prem Prakash and team leader Manjil Saini, who he said backed them all along in exposing the racket.
“We worked under their guidance and were successful in busting the racket,” said Singh. Delighted over the success of the team, SSP Prem Prakash rewarded Singh on Saturday by making him sta- tion officer of Mudha Pandey police station. Singh, who entered the police service in 2000, was chowki (outpost) in-charge in Budh Bazar when he was elevated as station officer.
Father of two children, he feels his hard work had brought honour to his family “My elder son, too, wants to join the police,” he said proudly Singh’s father, presently posted in J.E Nagar as second officer in the fire service, and his two brothers are also in the police.
For Singh, khaki occupies an important place in his life, which he says “gives him the strength to protect the poor”. srajumrt@gmail.com