Berhampur, June 9: The sight of a dead body is enough to unsettle most people. Even police personnel, accustomed to dealing with death, often hesitate when confronted with mutilated bodies recovered from railway tracks after accidents or suicides. In such situations, one name is frequently called upon in Berhampur- Sanjay Nayak.
A resident of Dhipa Sahi in Lanjipalli, 44-year-old Sanjay Nayak has been assisting police in recovering bodies and handling human remains for nearly a decade. Whether it is day or night, he responds to calls from the Government Railway Police (GRP) and other police stations across the city.
Though he does not maintain an exact count, Sanjay estimates that he has helped recover nearly 1,000 bodies over the past ten years. Besides assisting in the retrieval of bodies, he also plays a key role in the cremation of unidentified persons.
Born into a family of sanitation workers, Sanjay is the son of retired municipal employee Gopal Nayak. Married and father to two sons, he continues to work as a sanitation worker with a private agency while dedicating much of his free time to this unusual service.
Recalling how he began the work, Sanjay said an acquaintance working as an ambulance driver approached him around 2015 or 2016 and asked if he could help transport a body to the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department of MKCG Medical College and Hospital.
"Without a second thought, I boarded the ambulance. I believed that if a human being cannot carry another human being's body, then who can?" he said.
His first assignment, however, was far from easy. The body had been found in a mutilated condition near Platform No. 4 of Berhampur railway station.
"I was frightened when I saw the body. But after handling such cases repeatedly, the fear gradually disappeared," he recalled.
Today, Sanjay is often the first person police contact when a body needs to be recovered. Whether the remains are decomposed, mutilated or unclaimed, he carries out the task without hesitation. In many cases where relatives cannot be traced, he also helps perform the final rites.
Despite years of experience, some incidents continue to haunt him.
One such case involved a pregnant woman whose mutilated body was found on railway tracks near Rikapalli in Chhatrapur about four years ago.
"The body was badly damaged. A police officer asked me to cover it with a cloth. When I realised the woman was pregnant, I could not hold back my tears. I still wonder why people take such extreme decisions," Sanjay said, his voice choked with emotion.
He also recounted an incident from two years ago when he accompanied an ambulance carrying a body from MKCG Medical College Hospital to Sundargarh.
"The deceased person's relatives were seated in front with the driver, while I sat beside the body. During the journey, I fell asleep. When I woke up late at night, I realised my face was almost touching the face of the deceased. For a moment, I was terrified," he said.
Sanjay's daily routine begins with his sanitation work from 6 am to 10 am and again from 6 pm to 9 pm. Outside these hours, he remains available whenever police require his assistance.
While his work often goes unnoticed, Sanjay continues to perform a task many would shy away from, ensuring dignity for the dead and providing invaluable support to law enforcement agencies in Berhampur.
