New Delhi
As he guides a grieving family which had just arrived at the Lodhi Crematorium here to conduct the last rites of their Covid dead, ASI Rakesh Chaudhury also keeps an eye on around 8-9 funeral pyres he helped set up. "On a daily basis, there are 20-30 bodies of corona patients that we help cremate here," Assistant police sub-inspector Rakesh Chaudhury tells PTI. He tells the bereaved relatives of the victims where they can get the material required for conducting the last rites, consoles them, at times put firewood on bodies, and even prepares funeral pyres himself when families don't. "Many a times there is just only one attendant with the body. Sometimes even when there are more they do not want to touch the body. They either sit in the parking lot or on the road, and we carry the body and help in cremation," he said.
