A man and his daughter were killed and two children sustained serious injuries after a speaker exploded at a house in Sabarkantha district’s Vadali taluka on Thursday.
The police have detained a man, whose wife was allegedly in an illicit relationship with the deceased man.
The deceased were identified as Veda village residents Jitu alias Jitendra Vanzara (36) and Bhumika Vanzara (14). The police said explosive substances, including ammonium nitrate, were found at the explosion site.
The incident prompted the government to rush a team of the National Security Guard to probe the matter, as the explosion took place a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in the district.
According to the Sabarkantha district police, around 12.30 pm in the afternoon, an autorickshaw driver reached Jitu’s house and delivered a parcel that had a sticker containing the name ‘Jitendra Vanzara’, his address and his cellphone number. “Jitu collected the box and in the presence of his daughters Bhumika and Chhaya as well as a girl from the neighbourhood, Shilpa (14), he started opening it,” said a police officer.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Inspector General of Police (Gandhinagar Range) Virendrasinh Yadav added, “As soon as he opened the box, there was an explosion injuring all four. They were rushed to the community health centre at Vadali by neighbours. While Jitu and Bhumika were declared brought dead on arrival by doctors, Chhaya and Shilpa were shifted to the civil hospital in Himmatnagar.”
“During investigation, it came to light found that Jitu was having an affair with a married woman from a neighbouring village. The woman’s husband had also warned Jitu about it. He works in a mining company and somehow managed to procure ammonium nitrate. He filled a speaker from a music system with ammonium nitrate and connected the same to detonators. As soon as Jitu opened the parcel, the speaker exploded,” he added.
The police said the woman’s husband and the autorickshaw driver have been detained. “The accused paid Rs 200 to the auto driver, also a resident of Veda village, to deliver the parcel to
Jitu’s house. We are in the process of registering an offence against both the accused,” said an officer.
While forensic teams from Gandhinagar were rushed in, Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Sunil Joshi and Sabarkantha District Superintendent of Police Vijay Patel also visited the crime spot. One of the injured girls has been put on ventilator, said Assistant Resident Medical Officer Vipul Jani from the civil hospital.