Nellore: Recovering the mutilated bodies of accident victims either on the road or on the railway track is most difficult task for police.
However, the frightening job is livelihood for seven member team in Nellore.
Both civil and railway police are dependent on this team to collect the bodies of accident victims and shift them to mortuary.
The team members are not at all averse even if the bodies are highly decomposed and difficult to handle.
One such incident they recall is dealing with the burnt bodies of the passengers of Tamil Nadu express last year.
Although no one recognised their service, the team had played an important role in recovering the charred bodies of passengers to Tamil Nadu Express last year.
The team is headed by Gurumurthy known as Peddodu and Suresh Kumar alias Chinnodu.
Suresh Kumar said that they can never forget handling the burnt bodies of the train.
Gurumurthy belongs to Vizag and he came to Gudur in Nellore district in search of livelihood two decades ago.
“Venkateswarlu of Gudur used to help railway police to recover the suicide victims on railway track and I was forced to assist him since I could not find any job. I have shifted to Nellore about 15 years ago after railway police requested me as there was no one to help them to collect the bodies,” Gurumurthy said.
The team says that they have to walk for kilometres to trace the body parts of those hit by trains. The team lives in railway station and available to police round the clock. They alleged that they were not provided ration cards or house sites although they are without any shelter.
“Our names also not enrolled in the voters’ list despite our request. Some officers promise to get us house sites and ration cards when they are using our services during calamities like Tamil Nadu Express accident but they never kept their promise,” Suresh Kumar said.
Railway DSP P.R. Rajendra Kumar had all praise for Peddodu and Chinnodu.
He said that their team helps them to record the injuries, identification marks on the body (Moles etc) and packs the body in a neat manner to send it to mortuary.
He lamented over the living conditions of the team and urged the revenue authorities to extend all possible help to the Peddodu, Chinnodu and their team while stressing that no one will be able to carry out their task even if they offer huge money.
Gurumurthy said that a philanthropist gave guarantee to them to procure an old Maruti van and an autorickshaw to carry the dead bodies to mortuary.
He said that they don’t want their children to follow them and they are keen on educating them if anyone helps them.
