  The strain glassy phase is produced by doping a small percentage of impurity
in a martensitic alloy. Its ground state is conceived to consist of martensitic
nano domains spatially separated from each other by a defect phase. The present
study, by probing the local structure around the Ni and Ti in martensitic and
strain glassy compositions of Ni$_{50+x}$Ti$_{50-x}$, for the first time,
identifies the defect phase that is responsible for inhibiting the long range
ordering of the elastic strain vector leading to the formation of the strain
glassy phase.
