By Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan

New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS): The death of Delhi Police head constable Ratan Lal on Monday during a violent clash between pro and anti-CAA groups in east Delhi has shattered his family. What was their father's mistake, his children asked the Commissioner of Police.

Ratan Lal's wife Poonam fainted as she heard the news of his death. His children -- Siddhi, 13, Kanak, 10, and Ram, 8 -- were devastated.

According to Ratan Lal's acquaintances, a peace-loving person he would never get involved in any fight or argument.

The head constable was allegedly killed in the Dayalpur police station area by the miscreants when the violence was at its peak around noon.

Ratan Lal, a resident of Fathepur Tihwali village in Rajasthan's Sikar district, had joined the Delhi Police in 1998. He got married to Poonam, a resident of Jaipur, in 2004.

As the news of death reached his house in Amrit Vihar Colony of Burari, the children started crying. Amid the chaos in Burari his relatives were informed.

Lal's younger brother Manoj, who lives in Bangalore, reportedly, left for Delhi in evening.

Lal's another younger brother Dinesh told IANS, "He was the reader of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of Gokulpuri. He had just accompanied the ACP, but the mob surrounded him and killed him."

We never saw our brother behaving like a typical policeman, Dinesh said.

"His behaviour and language were never like that of a policeman," said Hiralal, assistant sub-inspector at Dayalpur police station, who worked with Ratan Lal for almost two and a half years.