Cop never misses covering dead with shrouds

Vadodara: Three years ago, he came across a horrible sight of a woman lying in a pool of blood after the car she was travelling in met with an accident near Tarsali flyover.
Instead of covering her dead body that had almost no cloth on it, the passers-by were busy clicking her pictures. Head constable Suresh Hinglagia, who had rushed there as a police response team member, immediately put a cloth on her body but the incident shook him up.
On that day, he decided to cover the dead bodies he came across with shrouds. “I was shocked that the people who had gathered there didn’t think of covering the woman’s body. No one even helped the police on the busy highway. It was then that I decided to cover any dead body I came across with the shroud,” said Hinglagia (49) who is posted at Makarpura police station.
Hinglagia made it a point to always carry some shrouds with him in the police control room (PCR) van.
“Whenever any incident of crime or road accident occurs, the PCR van is the first to reach the spot. I carry the shrouds in the van and once at the spot, the first thing I do is cover the dead body,” Hinglagia told TOI.
In the last three years, Hinglagia has wrapped nearly 200 dead bodies in the shrouds that he bought by spending money from his own pocket.
From road accidents to murders, suicides and unknown persons, he has never missed covering any dead body in the jurisdiction of Makarpura police station. A native of Porbandar, Hinglagia joined the police service in 1991. He began his career in Ahmedabad and later got transferred to Porbandar.
“My daughter studies in the city and my wife too is an advocate. So I sought transfer to Vadodara and shifted here in 2016,” he added. Hinglagia says that many people have appreciated him for his gesture and hopes that others too get inspired to help the needy.