On Tuesday, police in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh apprehended a man after a home theater music system he gave to his ex-girlfriend on her wedding day exploded, killing her husband and his brother, and injuring four more people, including an 18-month-old child.  On April 3, Hemendra Merawi was opening his wedding gifts with his brother.  The gifts included a music system from his wife’s ex-boyfriend, 33-year-old Sarju Markam. When Merawi and his brother plugged it in and switched it on, it exploded. Police said Markam had fitted the music system with a bomb and placed it with other gifts at the wedding venue on March 31. 

"He used ammonium nitrate, petrol, and gunpowder recovered from firecrackers," police superintendent Lal Umed Singh told the media. “He gift-wrapped it to avoid any suspicion.”  The force of the explosion was so great that the room's walls and roof collapsed. Merawi was killed instantly, and his brother, who was rushed to the hospital, died from his injuries. The explosion sparked fear as bombings that take place in the state are usually linked to the tribal communist separatist group Naxal, which has been engaged in a long-standing armed conflict with the Indian government. According to reports, Markam (the suspect) is currently employed as a car mechanic in the neighboring state of Madhya Pradesh and had previously worked in a mine in Chhattisgarh, where he learned to assemble explosives. 

Markam is currently charged with violating India's Explosive Substances Act, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. According to police, Markam admitted to rigging the gift with explosives because he was upset with his ex-girlfriend for marrying someone else. The two had recently ended their relationship after the now-widowed bride discovered that Markam (her ex-boyfriend) was already married with two sons after dating since 2020.   “After she realized the truth, she refused to marry him."  "But he kept threatening her to marry him,” said additional police superintendent Manisha Thakur, adding that Markam had threatened Merawi twice before the wedding. 

The incident is part of a growing trend in India of violence perpetrated by rejected men, dubbed "jilted lover syndrome" by authorities. According to the most recent official figures, crimes against women increased by 15.3 percent in 2021, with most ofthem being committed by close male partners.

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Elizabeth Danquah

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