In a statement to the presiding officer, court of inquiry, Engineering Stores Depot, Dehu Road on February 2, Upadhyay, a resident of Vikas Nagar said he was at the Dehu Road market around 6.30 pm on January 12 when he heard a commotion. He saw people running helter-skelter, falling over each other. ``I went towards the vegetable market and on the footpath, I saw a boy with a minor head injury and two persons with bruises. I could not see any damage. Nor did I see any military personnel. There was no police, CMP or Cantonment Board security staff,'' he said.

According to Upadhyay, handcart owners, vegetable vendors and other shop owners had closed their shops and assembled on the road in a very agitated mood. He said he had spotted Lt Col R U Nandgaonkar, and two officers of AD Brigade. Later, he claimed to have seen Col R Bhutani. `` I, Col Bhutani and Mickey Kochar went to Pawan Kumar's shop to talk. Simultaneously, Admin Commandant also joined, conversed with Mickey Kocchar, came out of the shop, went to the Jonga and started addressing the gathering,'' he said. Subsequently, the Station Commander came and started giving a speech to the civilians, he said. `` Later on, when I saw that my presence would not serve any purpose, I left the place,'' he said.

According to Upadhyay, the next day he met the vegetable market leaders and requested them to open their shops which they did in the evening. He said that he also met the Admin Commandant who intimated that an enquiry has been ordered. `` To my surprise, on reading the newspaper, I learnt that 19 Air Force Defence Regiment personnel have been blamed for the incident. On enquiry, it was revealed that the unit had been named by a very responsible person of the Army,'' he said. Since it defeated the very purpose of the enquiry apart from prejudicing it, and also because I had not seen any 19 AD person in the market at that time, I issued a press statement, a copy of which is enclosed, he stated.

Upadhyay maintained that he was a concerned citizen and a responsible ex-officer. `` Therefore, I can say that the incident is a culmination of the many lapses on the part of the cantonment board administration. For example, they allowed hawkers, vendors, handcart owners, vegetable vendors to virtually occupy the roads,'' he observed.

They failed to alert the police even when media was rife with rumours that ransom calls are being received by traders, he said. Major Upadhyay bemoaned the absence of an intelligence system. ``The cantonment board did not ask CMP to make rounds at crowded hours. They did not liase with police to establish an outpost in the market. They permitted unauthorised hawking. All this resulted in anti-social elements taking advantage of these lapses, creating chaos and blaming Army for it. Army lumped it and media played it up because Army is a soft target,'' he said.