50 hours on at Taj, they still waited for

The bouts of sporadic firing and the blackened dome of the majestic hotel were the only two giveaways to the horror that the posh south Mumbai hotel had gone through for more than 48 hours now.

Though the number of terrorists inside was still not clear, a RAF jawan said, “As far as we know, there is a lone terrorist inside and not more than 20 people trapped inside the hotel, though none are hostages to the terrorists.”

At around 4:20 pm, the terrorists inside started lobbing grenades outside the hotel. A shrapnel injured two people — Malad resident Dilip, a Congress worker, and Karisma, a woman journalist from a news agency.

While Dilip suffered wounds on his forearm and back, the reporter was injured in her calf. Both were rushe to a hospital by an ambulance stationed nearby. In the evening, a group of traditionally dressed Muslim youths came in a mini-bus with bottles of water and packets of biscuits and distributed them to the group of policemen, firefighters and media personnel positioned there. Asked where they had come from, a youth from the group said shyly, “We are from the Saifee Hospital Trust and have come to distribute water and food to the people here as all the nearby shops are closed and people might be hungry and thirsty here. We were here yesterday, too, to distribute food and water to the people here.”

Asked whether the Government is to be blamed for the intelligence lapses, Munde replied, “this is not the time to criticise the government or the security apparatus. That can lead to their demoralisation. At this juncture, we should keep in mind that saving the people trapped inside the hotel is the first priority. However, once this crisis is over, I shall say what I have to say.”