Ramesh Sable, a senior editor with a local news Marathi channel laughed away when asked for his comments: “Who knows the one killed may not be real Osama Bin Laden but one of his clones,” he said adding that a firm confirmation is required to believe it was indeed Bin Laden that was killed.

Prakash Dhotre, an IT professional in a multinational company in Mumbai, said it is hard to believe that Bin Laden was killed. The same claim the US had made two years ago. “How many times will the US kill Osama? And in my view, unless peace prevails in the world, there will be hundreds of Bin Ladens.”

Many do not believe that the killing of Bin Laden will cause any damage to Al-Qaeda. “Instead, Al-Qaeda will grow stronger and create trouble for the US and European forces,” said Rahul Sirsat, a political analyst. He said Pakistan’s “impotence” came to the fore when it allowed the US forces to carry out the attack inside Pakistan without prior approval.

Asked if he was happy with the killing of Bin Laden, Shafiq Qureshi, an economist at Mumbai University, said: “Of course, I am not happy and also have no reason to be happy. The attack was a cowardly act by the US with the active support and assistance of the Pakistani government led by an impotent president.”