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Story of a police photographer

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Mangesh Chougule (40), had a passion for photography but the lure for a safe job landed him in police services in 2000. Six years later, when he learnt that the police photography department was looking for a professional photographer, Chougule, believing it to be destiny's call, applied and got selected.

His first assignment required him to walk into the cold storage house at the JJ Hospital to take picture of a 45-year-old man, who was found dead on the railway track.

"I had no idea how a morgue looked like. The most difficult part was to walk among the dead bodies. There were at least 30-35 bodies lying in the cold storage room. I was escorted by a sweeper, who appeared accustomed to every body in the room. I shuddered seeing him walk with such ease, but eight years on, now even I manage to walk like that," reminiscence Chougule.

Today, his claim to fame is of haven taken pictures of 78 dead bodies in a span of 12 hours, during the 2009 Mumbai terror attack. On an average day, he takes and uploads three to four photographs – accident, suicide, murder - for maintenance of police records.

His experience has earned him the reputation of an 'expert' in the department. He is now mostly called for serious or high profile cases, where bodies are decomposed beyond recognition.

So, does his job fulfills his passion for photography? Chougule said, "Not really. I was a wedding photographer, until I joined the police. What I do now is a job that has to be done and forgotten by the end of the day."

But is it easy to walk into a room full of dead bodies and forget all about it by the evening? "It's my job, a routine rather. The minute I am out of the morgue, I try to forget all about it. But after I completed my first assignment, I could not eat the next day," Chougule recalls.

Eight years on, there are a few assignments that still haunts him. "At times, I struggles to return to normalcy and find it difficult to have a meal when I take pictures of decomposed bodies. The smell goes on into my head."

His worst experience of the career was to take pictures of a man found near a railway track at Thane. "His body had decomposed to the extent that it was beyond any words. Its been three year, but it's still fresh in my mind. Like it happened only yesterday."

What about personal life? Does he professional life has any impact on his personal life? "Well my family members-- parents, wife and a two-year-old daughter -- still do not know the exact details of my job profile. However, before marriage, my father-in-law had serious problems with my job, but that did not stop me from pursuing him until he agreed," Chougule admits.

On his day off, Chougule like any other doting father spends time with his daughter. "On my day off, I click pictures of my little girl, which takes away all my stress and leaves me with utmost satisfaction in life."

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