Delhi becoming ghost capital?

Some Delhi residents it seems will never leave the city. Even after death. From Mughal rulers to murder victims, the capital has become favourite haunting ground for restless spirits.

Some Delhi residents it seems will never leave the city. Even after death. From Mughal rulers to murder victims, the capital has become favourite haunting ground for restless spirits.

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While no evidence of it may have been visible to TV cameras during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Independence Day speech, locals insist that ghosts stalk the majestic Red Fort. Many say they have heard the tinkling of anklets from within an abandoned well near the Zeenat Mahal where the bodies of prisoners executed during the British Raj were reportedly dumped.

"At night people hear sounds of a lady's anklets apparently coming from inside the well but no one has even seen anything unusual," admits A.P. Singha, one of the oldest shopkeepers inside the Red Fort complex. According to him, the late Asghar Ali Khan, former custodian of the Red Fort, had been the first person to report some ghostly sightings in the Dewan-e-Aam. But this was later denied by the Army that looked after Red Fort security till sometime back.