Alappuzha: Days after woman civil police officer (CPO) Soumya Pushpakaran was burned to death by another cop, her colleague at the Vallikunnam police station in Kerala’s Alappuzha district has penned a short note in her memory.

Vallikunnam Station Houser Officer (SHO) Shaiju Ebrahim narrated the hapless situation of a cop who has to examine the dead body of a colleague. In a poignant post on Facebook, Shaiju lamented that this was indeed the predicament of a policeman, who has to set aside his human emotions as he dons the uniform.

"The death of a colleague is really saddening. The face that greeted you with a smile has been charred beyond recognition. Can you imagine my predicament of examining that burned body...

"May be that's the plight of a policeman... Yes, I am cop, destined to be hardhearted. I had to keep repeating to myself during the procedures of inquest and autopsy that ‘I am a cop’," he recounted.

Shaiju said it was his uniform that gave him the strength to face that grim situation. Shaiju lamented that he was further disheartened when he came to know that a cop, Ajaz, had committed the heinous crime.

"I saw on some TV channels that Soumya had told me about this. Those news items failed to create any emotion in me... However, if she had mentioned it even once, this would not have certainly happened. That thought is haunting me.

"I know nothing can console the three little kids who have lost their mother. But let's join hands to prevent such incidents," the SHO concluded.

Soumya, a 34-year-old civil police officer and mother of three children, was hacked and burnt to death by another cop N A Ajaz on June 15. While Soumya died on the spot, her assailant Ajaz succumbed to burns four days later at a hospital.

She was murdered on her way back home from a Student Police Cadet camp at Vattakadu school near Vallikunnam. The assailant hit Soumya's scooter with his car. When she tried to run away, he hacked her with a knife and poured kerosene over her before setting her ablaze. Ajaz had stated that he killed Soumya as she spurned his proposal to marry her.

The funeral of Soumya was held on Thursday. Soumya's husband Sajeev reached home from Libya on Wednesday (June 19). Sajeev, who works as a plumber and electrician in a private firm in Libya, said he was not planning to go back to his job.