If Sharma had the highest kills for an encounter specialist, Nayak, who is said to have been in a body-count race with him, raked up the most number of films based on his life.
You would be subject of movies too if you came from a small village to big bad Mumbai to earn a living cleaning tables in a cafe and then rose to being the most dreaded and charismatic cop in the city.
Nayak, who joined the Mumbai police as a sub-inspector went on to become a much respected officer in the elite Crime Intelligence Unit. Along with Sharma, he sent gangsters, who had earlier strut around the city like they owned it, scuttling for cover.
But with the kind of media attention he drew and the kind of lifestyle he lead, it was not before long that trouble caught up with him.
In 2003, an ex-journalist who himself was alleged to have ties with the mafia, Ketan Tirodkar, stepped up on the witness stand and accused Nayak of accepting money from mafia bosses.
Allegations that his wealth is disproportionate to his known sources of income also cropped up and Nayak's reputation was never the same again.
Photograph: Arun Patil
Also read: Images: The school that Daya Nayak built
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