'It was difficult raising kids alone'

MYSORE: "It was difficult to bring the children up without their father," said the wife of slain police officer, Harikrishna, Preetha Harikrishna.
"Our children, Jyothika and Pradhyumna, were just over three and two years old respectively, when their father died and they have only short memories of their father. It was hard to take care of the home and raising a family doubly difficult for me," she said.
Remembering her husband at the unveiling of Harikrishna's bust at the Police Martyr's Circle on Sunday, Preetha said: "Harikrishna was fully dedicated to work. Soon after the marriage, he took up an assignment to nab Veerappan and at that time I even didn't know what job it was," she stated.
Asked about the unveiling Harikrishna's bust after a gap of 18 years, Preetha felt that such memorial will definitely inspire youths and other police officers. Though it was delayed, she said she was happy it has been done at last.
Lakshmi Benagonda, wife of another officer, explained her difficulty in bringing up their four kids including two girls. On the occasion, she petitioned Suresh Kumar for one of her family members, because though the government had promised a job to one of the family members, nothing had been done so far.
Benagonda, who was an ASI (wireless) then, was ambushed along with Harikrishna, Shakeel Ahamed and others on August 14, 1992, exactly 18 years ago.
The names of other police officers whose names have been engraved on the plaque are: K P Machaiah, Rachappa, P T Talawar, M K Uttappa, Krishnaiah Sahachara, Premkumar, M Swamy, M Shakeel Ahamed, C M Kalappa, Prabhakar, N Shankar Rao, R G Talekar, R Ramalingu, Govindaraju, M K Ponnappa, S S Shivakumar, Jagannath, Yelangovan, K m Poovaiah, M Siddaraju, Dinesh, K M Appachu, Narasappa and B V Sundar.