New Delhi  - Arrangements for the Indian leg of the Olympic torch relay scheduled for Thursday - and dubbed "the tortured relay" by some local news channels - is shrouded in secrecy.

More than 100,000 Tibetan refugees live in India, and with Tibetan groups holding protests and demonstrations every other day for over a month the organizers are taking no chances.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOC) is revealing nothing - not the time of arrival of the Olympic torch nor the time of the relay on Thursday, nor where the honoured guest would be kept in the intervening hours.

"The torch will arrive when it leaves Islamabad," Suresh Kalmadi, president of IOA, said at a press briefing. After much persuasion, he added, "Sometime after midnight."

"The relay will be sometime in the afternoon ... I don't know where the torch will be kept," he said.

The more radical Tibetan fringe is not revealing much either. "There are about 400 of us - we are keeping to small groups, changing places constantly, changing mobiles. Can't tell you now what we plan tomorrow," said Dhonduk Dorji of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC).

The torch relay will be held on a stretch of about 2.6 kilometres between India's presidential palace and India Gate along the majestic Rajpath, routinely a high-security area.

The Indian government has made security arrangements in parallel to its annual Republic Day parade which is usually held under the shadow of terrorist threats.

More than 15,000 police and paramilitary personnel and surveillance helicopters will be guarding the short stretch.

All doors and windows of buildings facing Rajpath should remain closed from 1 pm to 6 pm local time and office workers would not be allowed to enter or leave the area during this period and not allowed on roofs, PTI news agency reported citing a circular issued by the Indian Home Ministry.

India's federal Minister of State for Home Shakeel Ahmed has said that the government was committed to ensuring safe passage of the torch to its next destination - Bangkok.

With such stringent security measures it seems unlikely that the general public would get a chance to see the relay. Kalmadi dodged the issue and said special invitees would be there at the opening and closing of the relay.

Asked whether the security was not ruining the Olympic spirit along with the Tibetan protests, he said, "We don't want scenes in Paris and London repeated here by a few people ... They can have their protests anywhere else but not on the relay route ... the sacred Olympic torch must be safe."

"We are not terrorists," said Dorji. "We believe in peaceful protests."

Sixty members of the TYC were arrested on Wednesday as they tried to storm the Chinese embassy.

"At least 120 of our members have been detained during protests over the past few days. They are being interrogated by intelligence officials to find out about our plans. So we keep moving, keep changing plans and do everything through sms," Dorji said.

The Tibetan Solidarity Committee, an umbrella forum of various Tibetan groups other than the TYC and led by members of the Tibetan parliament-in exile, are organizing a peace run on Thursday morning and have got permission from the Indian police.

"The Torch for Tibet will be blessed with an inter-faith prayer at Rajghat, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, who showed how a peaceful movement can be successful," said organizer Youdon Aukatsang.

"The relay will be flagged off by former Indian defence minister George Fernandes and the first leg will be run by Nafisa Ali, former swimmer and a social activist," she said, adding, "We have lots of friends and supporters in India."

The Tibetan torch relay - with about 50 torchbearers taking part - will end at the Jantar Mantar in central Delhi. Aukastsang said other supporters would gather only at the starting and finishing points.

It will be a show of strength for the Tibetan cause, she says. (dpa)