Kanojia remembers batchmate Karkare

8220;It was a severe shock to me. We had such a nice time in Hyderabad. He was a very good friend of mine. Even now, I cannot believe that Hemant is no more,8221; said Kanojia, who was in touch with Karkare for both professional and personal reasons.

Karkare was the third officer of the batch of 1984 who lost his live fighting the terrorists. 8220;The first was K S Brar who fell to the militants8217; bullets at Amritsar in the middle of 8216;80s. There was another officer, who died fighting the Naxalites and Karkare was the third,8221; said Kanojia.

Describing the slain ATS chief as a fine human being, Kanojia said he was always ahead of others.

8220;Hemant was from an engineering background. Those days very few people with a technical background came to take the civil service examinations. He was such a nice man, so friendly and was always ready to help others.8221;