I am busy, call me later,' police officer's last words

Kapurthala (Punjab), July 27
"I am busy, call me later." These were the last words Punjab's Superintendent of Police Baljit Singh told his eldest daughter Ravinder Kaur on Monday morning before terrorists killed him in Gurdaspur district.

Singh, 48, died while fighting the three terrorists holed up in the police station complex in Dinanagar town, about 15 km from the Pakistan border.

"I called my father on his mobile at around 9.30 in the morning when we came to know that an encounter is going on. 'I am busy, call me later' was his only reply," Ravinder Kaur told reporters here.

With tears rolling down, she said her father was engaged in the counter-offensive launched by the police when she called him.

Ravinder, who is pursuing bachelor of dental surgery from a Bathinda college, is the eldest among three children.

Singh, who headed the detective branch of police in Gurdaspur, suffered bullet wounds and died in a hospital.

Singh was inducted into Punjab Police in 1984 on compassionate grounds after the death of his father Achar Singh, who was also employed with the police.

"Baljit Singh's father died in a road accident in 1984 but the police then believed that he got killed by the militants. For his exceptional service his son was given the job as an ASI (assistant sub inspector)," a senior police official told IANS.

Singh's youngest son Maninder Singh has gone to Gurdaspur to bring his father's body to his hometown. He is likely to cremated with state honours here on Tuesday.