Kolkata: “Phir milenge sir, Jai Hind!” Inspector
Pintu Kumar Singh said with a crisp salute as he bid adieu to IG S Raveendran in Kolkata.
Five days later, Raveendran got the news. Singh had been killed in an encounter between the security forces and
terrorists at Handwara in Kupwara district of J&K.
“His last words still haunt me,” Raveendran says.
The news of Singh’s death came as the Central Reserve Police Force was trying to come to terms with the loss of its 40 soldiers in the Pulwama terror attack. Singh, who was 35, was with the CRPF’s 92 battalion. A native of Begusarai in Bihar, Singh was serving in Kupwara.
Raveendran met him in Kolkata when Singh was escorting a team of 15 Kahmiri teens to West Bengal as part of the Bharat Darshan outreach programme organised by
CRPF.
His officers say Singh was always well-mannered and polite, attributes that allowed him to connect easily with people from troubled areas.
“Pintu was chosen to lead the youth team as he was very popular amongst the local populace,” reminisces Raveendran. “His PR and networking with locals was stupendous.”
Singh’s performance in past operations also made it easier for his officers to chose him for this important “peace” mission, which the CRPF wanted to succeed at all costs.
“Earlier, too, in all operations, he always exhibited utmost courage by leading from the front. He was a valiant leader of his men. A brave heart of his battalion who had won the minds and hearts of the youths of Handwara.”
He was the one who advocated for the Kashmiri youths to be taken to places as part of Bharat Darshan programme and single-handedly managed the team from Kupwara to Kolkata and back amid the ongoing crisis and the rising tempers in the country. During his four-day stay in Kolkata, he refused to leave the team even for a day when he could have easily gone and visited his family in Bihar.
“He wanted to move on keeping Pulwama behind. He always said that Kashmiris were never at fault, their circumstances were,” another CRPF officer said, requesting anonymity.
Sources in CRPF said during the March 1 encounter, Singh volunteered to go into the house from where terrorists had been firing. “The firing had stopped and we all thought the terrorists were dead. Singh, being an inspector, could have asked his subordinates to go and check the house. But he decided to go on his own. That was when a terrorist, who we thought to be dead, shot him,” said an official.