12 years after Batla House encounter, residents don't want to recall

Twelve years have passed since the Batla House encounter in which Special Cell of Delhi Police claimed to have neutralised a key terror module of the Indian Mujahideen responsible for blasts in the national capital and other parts of the countryThe Jamia Nagar flat where the terrorist lived wears a haunted look and no one has since occupied the flat where a few of the IM men were gunned downResidents of L18 do not want to speak about that day or that encounter even twelve years after Nobody wants to recall the incidentRoads leading up to the lane shows no sign of any recollection of the day as its business as usual People carry on with their routine work They look at people suspiciously if they bring up the 2008 encounter Even shopkeepers whisper about the incident but do not want to be namedA middle aged woman living near the Batla House said It was Ramzan when the incident took place everyone was inside their homes but when the crowd started swelling people got to know about the incident since that day there has been no activity and the area continues to be calmParvez Alam Khan a former video journalist now working with the Delhi Congress Media Cell says Residents of the area still dont know what had transpired that day as judicial inquiry was not done even Arvind Kejriwal had said that they will press for the inquiry but it never happenedRecalling the incident he said that he was waiting to shoot an interview with then Chief Minister of Gujarat at Chanakyapuri when he got a call from office to rush to Batla House as firing was reported it was around 10 amWhen we reached the spot along with a reporter who is now editor in a channel there was crowd and lot of police presence in the area and already at that time Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma had been shot and was in the Holy Family hospitalThe Special Cell which conducted the antiterror operation was headed by then Joint Commissioner of Police Karnail Singh who has written a book on the incident Batla House An Encounter That Shook The NationHe says in the book about the detailed encounter and answers some frequently asked questions in the book The former IPS officer narrates that the Special Cell team had managed to gather information and zeroed in on Atif Ameen by September 18 2008The phone number used by slain terrorist Mohammad Atif Ameen was key to solving the conspiracy of blasts in Jaipur on May 13 and Ahmedabad on July 26 and the serial blasts on September 13 in Delhis Karol Bagh Connaught Place and Greater Kailash in 20082 terrorists killed in ongoing encounter in KashmirIn the book he tells that the police never expected to be fired at by the occupants inside the flat The officers were in plain clothes and not wearing bullet proof vests as the initial plan was to nab them aliveHe also tells in the book about his meeting with then Union Minister Kapil Sibal at the LG office to brief him about the encounter and he was convinced about the police version and later then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh patted him and said that the police has done a good job and when he was introduced by LG to the Prime Minister in an official function he was commended againWhen the police faced flak from political parties and pressure from the government and they were called by the home secretary for judicial enquiry then Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium argued against itKarnail Singh a former IPS officer said that they also met Mushirul Hasan then Jamia VC who had announced legal aid for the IM suspects but when shown evidences he was taken abackSingh in the book praised Jamia Community radios effort to calm down the charged atmosphere in the areaThe encounter at Batla House took place on September 19 2008 a week after serial blasts in DelhiTwo alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorists Atif Ameen and his accomplice were killed while two others Mohammad Saif and Zeeshan were arrested and Mohammad Sajid managed to escapeEncounter specialist and Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma was killed during the incidentResidents in the area though still cant find a way to tie the loose ends They still have suspicion even after years of that encounter about its genuineness They still cant accept the police theoryCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever