With memories of the Mumbai attacks fresh in mind, Delhi was under a massive ground-to-air security apparatus for the main Republic Day celebrations on Monday which was witnessed by the top brass of the country's political leadership, sans Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Amid heightened threat perception, mobile hit teams, anti-aircraft guns and sharpshooters of the elite National Security Guards were deployed at various locations while thousands of paramilitary and Delhi Police commandos kept a tight vigil along the 8-km-long parade route.
A multi-layer security ring was put in place at Rajpath, where President Pratibha Patil unfurled the tricolour and took the salute of marching contingents. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, chief guest for the celebrations, also witnessed the parade along with the country's top political leadership.
The Prime Minister could not attend the celebrations as he was recuperating after a by-pass surgery in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences.
With intelligence inputs warning of attempts to disrupt the celebrations, authorities ensured that there was no room for any untoward incident.
The warnings were strengthened by Uttar Pradesh police's claim on Sunday that it had foiled a bid by two Pakistani terrorists to reach Delhi on the eve of the Republic Day by killing them.
Around 20,000 security personnel, including 5,500 from paramilitary forces, were deployed across the capital with commandos of the Indo-Tibet Border Police and Delhi Police positioned at strategic locations. Snipers were deployed at all high-rises along the parade route.
