If I recall right, I counted 172 or 173 bodies - in several rows, neatly placed one after the other.
That was when one of the policemen whispered, pointing to a large dimly lit room: "Go there and see."
What we saw was bone chilling. Piled up shabbily like a mini mountain - like sacks of food grain in a warehouse - were bodies after bodies, of men and women, most of the dress on the victims drenched in blood. Some bodies had no clothes. A strong stench hit us all. I recall Dipankar rushing out to throw up.
There was no way we could count how many bodies were stuffed there.
The doctor in charge of the mortuary, L.T. Ramani, calmly shared with us the statistics. The story we filed for UNI an hour later was the first to tell the world that hundreds - yes, hundreds - of Sikhs had been slaughtered in Delhi by Congress-sponsored mobs to avenge Indira Gandhi's assassination.
