• He lived with his mom, who passed away last year • He had no social contacts and had not kept in touch with family • Efforts by cops to get 3 relatives to claim Dr Jayant Rege’s body fail.A senior KEM doctor died of a heart attack on a train two weeks ago, but so far no relative has claimed his body — a case that highlights grim facets of an anonymous, lonely life that many in a city of 1.25 crore lead.Dr Jayant Shantaram Rege, 59, a gynaecologist and obstetrician, collapsed in his seat and died while travelling to work on a Churchgatebound train on the morning of March 7.Co-passengers thought he had nodded off until they realised something was wrong and alerted cops.Dr Rege had never married, had no siblings and had been living alone in a Matunga apartment for the past year after his 85-year-old mother’s death. His father had died when he was 14. Described by colleagues as a “brilliant doctor”, but a reserved man, he apparently had no close friends and his neighbours of over 50 years know little about him.All the relatives the Government Railway Police (GRP) managed to contact refused to claim his body, currently lying in BYL Nair Hospital, and perform last rites apparently because of past estrangements. This has left authorities with the upsetting prospect of cremating a distinguished doctor like an unidentified homeless person.“With no relative ready to claim the body, we will have to cremate it,” said Senior Inspector Rajendra Kumar Trivedi of the Mumbai Central GRP. “Doctors from KEM Hospital offered to take the body and perform last rites, but the law does not allow us to hand over the remains.”There are other complications: Dr Rege did not nominate anyone other than his mother for his pension and other government benefits, or for his assets, including bank deposits of Rs 68 lakh.Dr Rege lived with his mother, Malati, in a groundfloor flat in Asian Apartments in Matunga (W). The flat was allotted to the family in 1956, when his father, Shantaram Rege, worked as an LIC officer. Rege senior died when Dr Rege was only 14, and Malati raised their only child alone.Some neighbours who have been living in the society for the past five decades remember Dr Rege as a quiet boy who rarely interacted or played with other children. Malati also avoided contact with residents, and no one remembers guests or relatives visiting the Rege household.Dr Rege studied medicine at Seth GS Medical College, which is attached to KEM, and later joined the hospital as a gynaecologist and a professor.Some of his colleagues and former students said he never considered marriage as he feared that his wife would not get along with his mother, whom he loved dearly. Dr Rege never even invited anyone home, either friends or colleagues.Despite being a senior doctor, Dr Rege travelled to work by train every day. At 8.57 am on March 7, the Mumbai Central GRP received a call about a man collapsing on a Churchgatebound train. “When the train stopped at Mumbai Central, the GRP boarded the second-class compartment and found a man in formals motionless. The GRP immediately rushed him to Nair Hospital, where he was declared brought dead,” Senior Inspector Trivedi said.The GRP initially didn’t know that Rege was a doctor or where he lived. He was carrying an old identity card provided by the BMC, but it only mentioned his name and not his profession.“The man was carrying a plastic bag which contained a train pass, mobile phone, a passbook of SBI Bank, some keys, a pen drive, some medical papers and Rs 10,725 cash,” said GRP investigating officer Sopan Khet Malis.While examining the body, Dr Shailesh Mohite, the head of forensics at Nair, revealed that Dr Rege’s name sounded familiar to him. He called Nair gynaecologist Dr Nimesh Gandhi, who recognised Dr Rege, his former professor.“I was shocked to know that the person who guided me through my medical studies was no more,” said Dr Gandhi, who studied under Dr Rege from 2008 to 2011. “He was a brilliant professor and gynaecologist, the one who often handled difficult pregnancy cases.”From KEM’s staff records, the GRP obtained his address and went to his flat to only find it locked. “When we asked one neighbour if a family member had stepped out, he said an old lady will come,” the investigating officer said. “The neighbour didn’t even know that Dr Rege’s mother had died a year ago.”Cops tried to look for another family member’s contact, but the only name Dr Rege had mentioned in his KEM records was his mother’s.Gandhi, however, recalled Rege having a doctor cousin in Bandra. The cousin was later identified as ENT specialist Dr Suhas Wagh. “We informed Wagh that there was no family member to claim Rege’s body, and asked him if he would take custody. He refused,” Trivedi said.Wagh told Mirror that he had offered to claim the body, but withdrew the offer after cops asked him to sign an affidavit stating he was Rege’s sole surviving family member. “What if relatives from his father’s side later come forward and raise an issue,” Wagh said. “Besides, I have had no relation with the Rege family for 15 years.”As the body remained in Nair, the GRP searched for other relatives. A few days later, Sunil Desai, secretary of Asian Apartments, provided cops with the name of Malati’s Vile Parlebased brother, Raghunath Vinayak.But Vinayak, too, refused to take custody of the body, saying he had been estranged from Malati for years. Malati’s sister, who lives in Goregaon, also said she had no contact with them.Out of respect for Dr Rege, KEM dean Shubhangi Parkar wrote to the GRP, offering to cremate his body. But cops cited legal hurdles in handing over the remains.With no known will, Dr Rege’s assets are likely to go to a government fund. “It’s just very sad. He was a good gynaecologist. Whenever there were difficult deliveries, we turned to him,” said senior KEM gynaecologist Dr P K Shah.He added that Dr Rege was always cordial, but never socialised with colleagues. “We knew little of his life outside KEM,” Dr Shah said.One of Dr Rege’s neighbours said despite many attempts by residents, he and his mother rarely interacted with them. Another neighbour said few knew that Dr Rege’s mother had died. “The strangest thing about the family was that they never opened their windows,” he said.