As he holds his grandfather's hand and walks through the crowd, Parakh avoids looking at the spot where his father was shot. His elder brother Paras wishes he had not undertaken the long journey from a boarding school in Dehradun to his home in Ghaziabad today. His father's dead body broke this eight-year-old boy's spirit as he sobbed in his mother's lap.

``They had just visited Paras in Dehradun around Diwali and he apparently clung to his father saying he wanted to go home with them,'' says a relative. ``Singhji really loved his family and children. We are all proud of him.''

Having recently been transferred to Moradabad, Singh was at his Kavi Nagar residence in Ghaziabad on leave for a couple of days. ``He had a lot of security when he was in the Special Task Force. But since his transfer, it has been withdrawn,'' says Srichand Chabri, a friend. ``He carried his own weapon too. But he knew that death would come eventually and was prepared for it.''

For one of the most talked-about policemen of the Uttar Pradesh force, Singh was known for the gangsters he killed. Having grown up in Bijnaur, Singh made it big in the Uttar Pradesh police ``going after hard-core criminals with a vengeance''.

As Singh's colleagues talked about his track record as a police officer and his family came to terms with his death, his sons sat in a corner with their cousins. There was a little chatter about school and friends, which was punctuated by sobbing relatives hugging the boys.

When the Inspector's body was moved from the house, Paras walked out with his aunt and cousin Chandan. They quietly boarded the bus waiting to take them to the cremation ground. Chandan kissed his cousin and told him to come back quickly. ``We will play cricket once you come back,'' he said. Paras nodded quietly as he left for his father's last rites.