The usual cacophony of lawyers, petitioners and visitors at the Karkardooma Court Complex has of late been replaced by hushed talk about ghosts, spirits and the supernatural. A white shadowy figure has been sighted in many parts of the complex. And a video footage has only buttressed the claims - and fears - of paranormal activities.
According to Shahdara Bar Council joint secretary Raman Sharma at Kakardooma Court, following complaints of strange sightings by many, eight CCTV cameras were installed at different spots in the ten-storey building in east Delhi that included the library and bar offices.
"In the morning, four computers were found to be switched on. When we looked at the CCTV footage, around 11.35 p.m. a white shadowy figure appears from one of the walls and turns on all the computers simultaneously," Sharma told IANS.
IANS has the CCTV footage that clearly shows the light and the computers suddenly switching on.
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In another eerie incident, the camera recorded bubbles floating in the air around 1 a.m. in the library, said Mahesh Sharma, a senior lawyer and former president of bar council. He also claimed that he recently sighted a ghost in his own chamber.
The lawyers and staff blame two tragic incidents for the spooky occurrences.
"A lawyer who worked here was killed along with his family members in last year's Uttarakhand floods while an electrician was killed inside the premises when he was electrocuted a few weeks ago," said a staff member, requesting anonymity.
Many claim that they have seen their spirits roaming in the premises on numerous occasions.
There are many stories. Some lawyers said once they were sipping tea when it fell on one of them on its own, while another said they saw a spirit at one of the lawyer's chamber and many times at the complex library.
However, the sprits are "harmless" and "never disturb", said Pankaj Yadav, who works in the building.
Meanwhile, a team of paranormal investigators who inspected the complex a few days ago has not ruled out the possibility of presence of something inside the building.
"We have experienced some abnormal activities and there might be something inside the building," Rajnish Jha, one of the investigators, told IANS.
However, Jha did provide answers to some of the questions.
"During investigations, we found that the computers were turning on automatically due to the self-programming software installed in the computers and the bubbles were caused by the creation of an electromagnetic field in the room which is not visible to the naked eye," Jha said.
"The electromagnetic field could have been generated due to the power house which supplies electricity to the entire building, below the library," Jha told IANS.
But we are still keeping a close watch, he added.
Jha and his team visited the complex on the night of Sep 2.
But this has not satisfied the lawyers and those who work in the court complex. They are still wary of the spirits that are seen floating around particularly in the night.
(Alok Singh can be contacted on alok.s@ians.in)