Grief, disbelief grip Red Fort bazaars as survivors mourn loss of loved ones

 NEW DELHI 

Silence was palpable in the markets around Red Fort, which bustle with shoppers and echo with the din of last-minute bargains throughout the year, on Tuesday.

All that could be heard as one walked past the Old Delhi markets were stories of grief and recollections of the carnage that unfolded at the traffic intersection in front of the historic structure a day earlier.

Eyewitness claims

Traders and bystanders could be seen recounting tales of what they witnessed and felt last night.

Standing before a small crowd, Sonu, a guard at a public toilet opposite the Red Fort complex, described how the night sky lit up following the blast.

“Someone’s limb fell near the Jain Mandir. A person’s head fell close to the pavement we were standing on,” he claimed.

As those around him listened in stunned silence, Mr. Sonu spoke about people near the fort trying to run frantically for safety towards Chandni Chowk and those inside the public toilet rushing out in disbelief.

A few metres away, Dheeraj, a mobility-impaired doll seller, talked about his desperate attempt to escape the scene. “There was a stampede-like situation. In such a rush, it was impossible to even get up and run, no matter how hard I tried,” he said.

The chatter along the pavement faded around the Bhagirath Palace medicine market, where shutters remained down in solidarity with an employee, Amit Kataria, at D.V. Pharma, who was killed in the explosion. His employer, also named Sonu, said Kataria had stepped out for dinner just before the explosion. “He told me he was going to eat. When his family started calling us later, we realised he never made it home,” he said.

‘Lost a colleague’

A short walk away, in Chawri Bazar, Luv Kumar Jain was trying to hand out wedding cards to people. However, he found few takers. The festive mood had vanished. “It is my job to greet customers and keep the business running, but Dinesh’s death haunts me,” he said, speaking about his colleague, Dinesh Mishra, whom he lost in the blast.

“He had gone to deliver wedding cards to a client at ISBT Kashmere Gate at 5.30 p.m. He later called me to say that traffic was slow and he would be late. At 6.42, he said he had boarded an e-rickshaw. From 7.05 to 9.34, I called him five times, but there was no answer. That is when I realised something was wrong and rushed to Lok Nayak Hospital,” Mr. Jain said.

In a lane leading to Jama Masjid, residents were preparing to receive the body of Mohsin Mallick, 33, an e-rickshaw driver whose GPS was last tracked near the blast site. Waiting among the mourners were his 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. “His last call was to his wife, Sultana. He said he would be late and that he wanted to have dinner with the children,” said Shabeena, his aunt.

The family, hailing from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, has been living in Delhi for three years.

Meanwhile, at the cordoned-off site near the Red Fort, investigators could be seen sifting through scraps of clothing, accessories, and mangled car parts, as officers repeatedly warned onlookers not to cross the jute ropes meant to keep crowds at bay, or try to tamper with the evidence.