Man who planted bomb in wedding gift of ex-lover in Chhattisgarh arrested

On March 30, a day before the wedding, Sarju called up the woman and tried to dissuade her from getting married. “You are getting married but you will never be happy,” he told her, according to the police.

He then called Hemendra to threaten him. “They had an altercation. Hemendra also had a talk with his fiance and the issue was settled,” said Superintendent of Police Lal Umed Singh.

Sarju Markam in police custody. (Express Photo)

Shortly after the calls, Sarju hatched the revenge plot. He told the police that since he had dabbled in electronic repair work as well, and knew a bit about explosives from a previous stint at a stone crushing unit, he decided to assemble the wedding gift bomb.

Hemendra, a 25-year-old farmer, and his elder brother Rajkumar, 30, were killed when they unpacked the gift, plugged it and switched it on at their home in Chamari village near the Madhya Pradesh border around 11.30 am on Monday, three days after his wedding, said ASP Manisha Thakur.

The impact of the explosion was such that it blew away the roof of the house and damaged three walls. Five others, including a child, were injured in the explosion.

Hemendra’s wife, as per rituals, was still at her parents’ home and was supposed to join him in some days.

Sarju, of Chhapla village in Balaghat district, was arrested on Monday after he emerged as the prime suspect during questioning of Hemendra’s wife and other family members.

Before starting work as a mechanic at an auto repair shop, Sarju worked as a helper at a stone crusher site in Indore, MP, for two years from 2015. It was here that he learned to assemble bombs, the police said. They said before quitting the job, he stole around 250 gm of ammonium nitrate from the unit, which he is suspected to have used six years later in rigging the music system.

Sarju also used 1.5 kg gun powder, extracted from fire crackers he bought, petrol and other materials to rig the music system, which he bought for Rs 1,000 from a local shop, shortly after his call to Hemendra on March 30.

After gift-wrapping the explosive-laden music unit, Sarju asked a friend to give him a ride to Hemendra’s wedding venue on his motorbike on March 31. “He did not tell his friend about his plan. The friend waited outside the venue and the accused went in and quickly came out after keeping the gift under other gifts near the mandap,” said SP Singh.

Sarju was picked by the police from the auto repair shop where he worked after the probe, including an examination of call records, zeroed in on him.