Mohan Chand Sharma AC (23 September 1965 – 19 September 2008) was an Indian police officer who was killed during the 2008 Batla House encounter in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

. He was posthumously awarded the Gallantry medal

Ashoka Chakra Award The Ashoka Chakra (alternative spelling: Ashok Chakra) is India's highest peacetime military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action, or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. It is the peacetime equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra ( ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

's highest peacetime military decoration, on 26 January 2009.

Life and career

Sharma, a Kumaoni, was born in

Chaukhutia Chaukhutia is a town in Almora district of Uttarakhand. It is located on the bank of the river Ramganga, and derives its name from a Kumaoni word "Chau-khut" which means four feet. In Chaukhutia's context, 'four feet' means four ways or directio ...

Masi region of

Almora Almora ( Kumaoni: ''Almāḍ'') is a municipal board and a cantonment town in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Almora district. Almora is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of t ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in the North India, northern part of India. It is often referred to as t ...

. He joined the

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). Delhi Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India. In 2015, sanctioned strength of Delhi ...

as a

sub-inspector Sub-inspector (SI), or sub-inspector of police, is a rank used extensively in South Asia: in the police forces of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, which is primarily based on the British model. It was formerly used in most British col ...

in 1989, and continued to serve for 19 years. He was a part of the Special Cell, an anti-

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

unit of the Delhi Police Force. Sharma was involved in an encounter with the terrorist

Abu Hamza Abu Hamza ( ar, أبو حمزة) meaning father of ''Hamza'', is a given name and a common alias used by several people, it may refer to: Given name * Abu Hamza Rabia (died 2005), al-Qaeda leader * Abu Hamza al-Thumali (died 772), disciple of Al ...

at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in 2006, and in the arrest of four

Jaish-e-Mohammad Jaish-e-Mohammed ( ur, , literally "The Army of Muhammad", abbreviated as JeM) is a Pakistan-based: "The JEM is a Pakistan-based, militant Islamic group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000." Deobandi: "Deobandis like Masood Azhar ...

militants in February 2007 after an encounter at DDU Marg, Delhi. He received a number of awards and decorations during his career, including seven gallantry awards.

Death

Sharma died on 19 September 2008, aged 42, after sustaining injuries during the

Batla House encounter The Batla House encounter case was an armed Delhi Police operation to arrest terrorists of the Indian terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, hiding in a flat in the Batla House area of Jamia Nagar, Okhla, on 19 September 2008. The operation result ...

with

Indian Mujahideen Indian Mujahideen (IM) is an Islamic terrorist group which has been particularly active in India. The jihadist group was founded as an offshoot of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) by several radicalized members including Iqbal ...

s involved in the

13 September 2008 Delhi bombings The 13 September 2008 Delhi bombings were a series of five synchronised bomb blasts that took place within a span of few minutes on Saturday, 13 September 2008 at various locations in Delhi, India. The first bomb exploded at 18:07 IST, and fo ...

. Sharma received bullet injuries to his abdomen, thighs and right arm. According to the autopsy performed at the

AIIMS The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , Government of India. These institutes h ...

, he died of excessive bleeding.

Batla House case

He was a part of the 2008 Batla House encounter case with Delhi Police. He played a major role in this case, and a film was also made about it called ''

Batla House ''Batla House'' is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written by Ritesh Shah, and directed by Nikkhil Advani. Inspired by the Batla House encounter case that took place on 19 September 2008, the film stars John Abraham as the p ...

''. In the movie, his character was called as K. K. and played by actor

Ravi Kishan Ravi Kishan Shukla (; born 17 July 1969), popularly known as Ravi Kishan, is an Indian actor, politician, film producer and television personality. He currently serves as Member of parliament, Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur. His film works are pre ...

Tributes

A number of high officials paid tribute to Sharma, including

Home Minister The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minis ...

Shivraj Patil Shivraj Vishwanath Patil (born 12 October 1935) is an Indian politician who was the Minister of Home Affairs of India, from 2004 to 2008 and 10th Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996. He was Governor of the state of Punjab and Administra ...

and Police Commissioner Y. S. Dadhwal.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indi ...

praised his "exceptional courage" and called him "an inspiration for our security forces." The Prime Minister also sent a message of condolence to Sharma's wife, as did INC president

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (''née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Mohan 2008 deaths People from Delhi 1965 births Recipients of the Ashoka Chakra (military decoration) Indian police officers killed in the line of duty Ashoka Chakra