Five of the 12 people who died in Monday evening’s explosion near the Red Fort were from Uttar Pradesh.

Among them were childhood friends Ashok Kumar Gurjar, a driver with the Delhi Transport Corporation, and Lokesh Agrawal, a fertiliser seller. Ashok was from the Mangrola area of Amroha district and used to live in Delhi. Lokesh used to sell fertiliser in Amroha’s Hasanpur and had gone to the capital to meet an ailing relative.

“Several hundred people gathered in front of Ashok’s house after receiving the news that his body would be brought here soon,” Raj Kumar, a childhood friend of both, told reporters on Tuesday afternoon. “When his body arrived, it was mutilated,” he added.

Sanju Kumar, Lokesh’s younger brother, said: “He frequently went to Delhi for business purposes. Thousands of people attended his last journey.”

“We want justice, we want to know what the government was doing when the blast took place. The intensity of the blast suggests that it was executed after lengthy planning,” Sanju added.

Ashok and Lokesh were in their early 40s. Lokesh had gone to Delhi to see a relative undergoing treatment at Sir Gangaram Hospital. Ashok had received him outside Lal Qila Metro station. Minutes later, both were dead. Their last rites were performed together at Brij Ghat on the banks of the Ganga in Amroha.

Mohammad Noman, 18, of Jhinjhana in Shamli, used to sell cosmetics. He had gone to Delhi with his cousin, Mohammad Amaan, to buy cosmetics at wholesale rates. They were in an autorickshaw when the explosion took place near the Metro station. Noman died on the spot and Amaan is in LNJP Hospital in critical condition.

Mohammad Virasat, in whose cab the cousins had gone to Delhi, said: “I parked the car near ISBT (Inter-State Bus Terminal) and they went to Sadar Bazar. They came back late in the afternoon, kept some items in the cab and went to Chandni Chowk for some more purchases. I told them to go there some other day, but they said they wouldn’t take long.”

Mohammad Mohsin, 35, in whose e-rickshaw the two youths were travelling, also died in the blast. He hailed from New Islamnagar in Meerut city and used to live near Jama Masjid in Delhi along with his wife and two daughters.

Mohammad Rafiq, Mohsin’s father, told reporters: “I work as a daily wager in a handloom factory. He used to earn ₹600 per day and contributed to the family. He was an honest man. The government must answer why our children are so unsafe.”

Sultana Begum, Mohsin’s wife, said: “Delhi police took my husband’s body to Meerut without asking me here in Delhi. I came to know about it when they had put his mutilated body in an ambulance. I tried to stop them by lying down before the ambulance, but the police removed me. Was the body in a situation to be transported without reason?” she told reporters outside Chandni Mahal police station in Delhi.

Dinesh Mishra, 34, of Chiknipurwa village in Shravasti district, was also among the dead. He had been living in Delhi for 15 years. He used to work in a printing press in Chawri Bazar and is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

Bhure Mishra, Dinesh’s father, said: “We are victims of a poor security system even in the national capital. To whom should we go to lodge a complaint?”

Dinesh’s brother Guddu said: “I reached the hospital at midnight but there was no one to tell me about him. He didn’t have any I-card on him. After a few hours, a hospital employee helped me identify his body.”