Groom killed after bride's ex 'sent bomb disguised as wedding gift'

A groom was killed just three days after his wedding owing to a deadly trap set by his wife’s ex-boyfriend.

Hemendra Merawi, 25, and his 30-year-old brother Rajkumar died instantly after they unwrapped the “gift” at home in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh last Monday.

The object, a Sony sound system, was rigged with hidden explosives, which were detonated as soon as it was plugged in.

The blast was so great that it blew off the roof of the house and collapsed three walls, leaving four others, including an 18-month-old boy, seriously injured.

The former lover of Hemendra’s wife, a man called Sarju Markam, 33, was arrested following the incident after it emerged that he’d left the bomb, disguised as a present, at a wedding reception event for the couple.

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The wife, who hasn’t been named, had previously been in a relationship with Markam, but broke it off when she discovered that he was married with two children.

He insisted that she become his second wife but his proposal was rejected by her family. She then entered into an arranged marriage with Hemendra, to the fury of Markam.

“After she realised the truth, she refused to marry him. But he kept threatening her," Police Superintendent Manisha Thakur told The Indian Express.

Then on March 30, a day before the wedding, he called the woman again urging her not to go through with it, allegedly telling her: “You are getting married but you will never be happy.”

Sarju Markam confessed to the horrific murder plotTwitter

Police also said that Markam called Hemendra directly to threaten him, with superintendent Lal Umed Singh telling the paper that the pair had had an altercation.

The 33-year-old then plotted his revenge, admitting during a police interview that he knew a bit about explosives after briefly working at a stone-crushing unit before becoming a car mechanic.

He reportedly used 1.5kg of gun powder, extracted from fire crackers he’d bought, as well as petrol and other materials to rig the music system, which he bought from a local shop shortly after his call to Hemendra. He then gift-wrapped his bomb to avoid suspicion.

Markam “confessed that he had planted the explosive in the home theatre and gifted it to the newly married couple in a bid to kill them,” said Singh.

He now faces life behind bars.

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