A 20-year-old electrician from Chhattisgarh has been arrested for allegedly sending a bomb disguised as a music speaker to the husband of a woman he was infatuated with. The incident occurred in the Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai district of Chhattisgarh. The accused, identified as Vinay Verma, used online tutorials to assemble an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and designed it to detonate when plugged in.
According to police, Verma's Google search history revealed that he had been researching "how to kill a person using a bomb without being caught by police". The police investigation led to the apprehension of Verma and six other individuals, effectively exposing an explosives smuggling ring that supplied gelatin sticks to the accused. The other arrested individuals have been identified as Parmeshwar Verma (25), Gopal Verma (22), Ghasiram Verma (46), Dilip Dhimar (38), Gopal Khelwar, and Khilesh Verma (19).
The plot was discovered when a suspicious parcel, carefully wrapped as a gift and bearing a forged India Post logo, was delivered to a shop in Manpur village, which falls under the Gandai police station limits. The intended recipient was Afsar Khan, a resident of the village. Khan, sensing something amiss, promptly alerted the authorities. A bomb disposal squad was dispatched and upon examining the package, they discovered a 2-kg IED concealed within a new speaker.
Authorities said that technical analysis of the IED revealed it was designed to explode once connected to a power source. The current would have reached a detonator wired to the speaker, triggering the explosion. Gelatin sticks were used as the primary explosive material, and the speaker's outer shell would have acted as shrapnel upon detonation.
Reportedly, this is not an isolated incident. In April 2023, a similar case occurred in the neighboring Kabirdham district, where a newly married man and his brother were killed when a home theatre system, gifted by the wife's former lover, exploded.
The Superintendent of Police (SP) for Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai district, Lakshya Sharma, stated that the investigation suggests Vinay Verma, a resident of Kusami village in Khairagarh, allegedly masterminded the plot to murder Khan. The police have successfully foiled a planned murder and uncovered an explosive smuggling racket with the arrest of the man.
