Newly married man, his brother killed as bomb-laden home theatre gifted by wife’s ex-lover explodes

News Network
April 5, 2023

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The police have solved the case of a home theatre music system explosion in Kabirdham district of Chhattisgarh and arrested former lover of a newly married woman for allegedly planting a bomb in the electronic device with an intention to kill the couple, an official said on Wednesday, April 5.

The woman's husband Hemendra Merawi (30) and his brother Rajkumar (32) were killed following the explosion in the music system, gifted by accused Sarju Markam (33), a married man from Chhapla village in Balaghat district of neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, they said.

Markam was arrested from Balaghat on Tuesday after his involvement in the crime surfaced during the investigation, Kabirdham Superintendent of Police Lal Umed Singh said. 

"The accused told the police that he had planted the explosive in the home theatre and gifted it to the newly married couple in a bid to kill them," he said.

Merawi, a resident of Chamari village under Rengakhar police station limits, got married to a 29-year-old woman from nearby Anjana village on March 31 and the wedding reception was held in his house on April 1, he said.

On Monday, when Merawi was trying to switch on the home theatre received as the wedding gift, it exploded. Merawi died on the spot and five others including his elder brother suffered injuries, the official said.

His brother later succumbed during treatment at the district hospital, he added.

The forensic team spotted traces of gunpowder during investigation of the spot following which family members of the bride and groom were questioned, he said.

The questioning and call details revealed that Merawi's wife was in constant touch with Markam. The duo had an affair and Markam was unhappy since the woman stopped talking to him after her marriage got fixed with Merawi, the official said.

Merawi's call details also revealed that he spoke to Markam on March 30, the day when the former's wedding rituals began, he said.

Based on the investigation, police reached a shop in Mandai area of Balaghat from where the music system, which had Sony brand name printed on it, was purchased and questioned the shop owner who confirmed that Markam had bought it, he said.

The police subsequently zeroed-in on Markam, who worked as an auto mechanic in Birsa (Balaghat), and arrested him, the official said.

Markam told the police that he "committed the crime and revealed that he used ammonium nitrate, petrol and gunpowder retrieved from firecrackers, weighing about 2 kg, to make the bomb and fitted it inside the home theatre."

He used the device power supply as a mechanism to trigger the blast, the police official said. Markam came on a motorcycle to Chamari on April 1, the reception day, and placed the wrapped music system along with other gifts and went from there, he said.

Singh said Markam had worked in a stone crusher plant in 2015-16 in Indore and learnt from there how to make bombs using ammonium nitrate.

The accused had collected ammonium nitrate from the same crusher plant and kept it with him, the official said. After the woman refused to break up her marriage and stopped talking to Markam, he hatched a conspiracy to kill the couple, he added.

So far, the role of any other person has not been surfaced in the offence, the SP said, adding that further investigation is underway. The accused has been booked under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Explosives Substances Act, he added.

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News Network
May 22,2023

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New Deli, May 22: Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday announced that billions of WhatsApp users can now modify a message within 15 minutes of sending it.

This feature has started rolling out to users globally and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks. All that the users need to do is long-press on a sent message and choose 'Edit' from the menu for up to 15 minutes after.

"For the moments when you make a mistake, or simply change your mind, you can now edit your sent messages," said the instant messaging platform.

This will help people correct a simple misspelling to add extra context to a message.

Edited messages will display 'edited' alongside them, so those you're messaging are aware of the correction without showing edit history, said WhatsApp.

"As with all personal messages, media and calls, your messages and the edits you make are protected by end-to-end encryption," said the company.

Last week, WhatsApp announced a feature called 'Chat Lock', which lets users protect most intimate conversations behind one more layer of security.

"Locking a chat takes that thread out of the inbox and puts it behind its own folder that can only be accessed with your device password or biometric, like a fingerprint. It also automatically hides the contents of that chat in notifications, too," WhatsApp said in a statement.

One can lock a chat by tapping the name of a one-to-one or group and selecting the lock option.

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News Network
May 14,2023

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Bengaluru, May 14: After meeting at Bengaluru's Shangri La Hotel to decide the chief minister of Karnataka, the Congress Legislature Party has unanimously decided to leave the selection of Congress Legislature Party leader to the decision of the AICC President, Mallikarjun Kharge. 

The new Karnataka Chief Minister and the cabinet will take oath on Thursday, May 18, sources have said.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president D K Shivakumar are both front runners for the chief minister's post. 

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had initially appointed former chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde and party leaders Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babaria as observers for the election of the CLP leader in Karnataka.

The supporters of both the Congress leaders slogans outside the Bengaluru hotel where the meeting took place.

Congress General Secretaries Sushil Kumar Shinde, Deepak Babaria and Jitendra Singh Alwar were the observers at the Karnataka Congress Legislature Party meeting.

The Gandhis and Mr Kharge will attend the oath-taking event on Thursday. The Congress has sent invitations to all "like-minded" parties to attend it. The final contours of the Karnataka cabinet will take shape in a day or two, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Siddaramaiah's supporters have put up a poster outside his home in Bengaluru, referring to him as "the next Chief Minister of Karnataka".

Posters also came up outside Mr Shivakumar's house, wishing "birthday greetings" to "the new Chief Minister of Karnataka". His birthday is tomorrow.

The BJP has been voted out of power in Karnataka, its only bastion in the south until yesterday, when the Congress took 135 seats in the 224-member house.

The BJP won only 66 seats, down from 104 in the 2018 state election. It did not win a single seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. Karnataka has 51 reserved constituencies, out of which 36 are for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates and 15 for ST candidates.

The scale of the Congress win is a record in terms of both seats and vote share in over 30 years. The party won 135 seats - 55 more than in 2018 - with a vote share of 42.88 per cent. The closest the Congress came to this score was in 1999 when it won 132 seats and had a vote share of 40.84 per cent. In 1989, it won 178 seats with a vote share of 43.76 per cent.

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News Network
May 25,2023

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Bengaluru, May 25: Senior Congress leader and minister G Parameshwara, who is awaiting portfolio allocation, today said that the party is currently focusing on forming a full-fledged government and not on banning organisations such as the RSS or Bajrang Dal. 

The statement of Parameshwara, who was once home minister of Karnataka, came a day after his Cabinet colleague Priyank Kharge said the Congress government would act against peace-disrupting communal and political outfits including the RSS. 

Kharge also said laws passed under the previous BJP regime prohibiting cow slaughter and regulating religious conversions would be “re-examined” and “withdrawn”. Even changes made to school textbooks would be undone, he had said. 

But, Parameshwara pointed out that the Congress government is yet to take full shape. 

“The government should become complete first and portfolios must be allocated. The government should reach a stage where absolute decisions can be taken. Let a full-fledged government come first. Ministers concerned will study the issues and then the Cabinet will decide,” Parameshwara said. 

Parameshwara also said statements by Kharge were his “personal opinions” and that policy decisions require discussions. “No decision can happen on the basis of statements issued by individuals,” Parameshwara said. 

On Kharge’s specific statement on acting against the RSS, Parameshwara said nothing had been discussed. “In our manifesto, we said organisations like Bajrang Dal and PFI will face action, including a ban if needed, in case they disrupt peace. Except that, nothing has been discussed,” he said. 

Parameshwara said any “anti-social and anti-people” law or rule that “disrupts peace” will be re-examined. “We’ve said that we’ll give a pro-people administration. Whatever is required for that will be done, including withdrawing some laws,” he said. 

With pressure mounting on the new Congress government to implement its five ‘guarantees’, Parameshwara asserted that they will be fulfilled. “Orders have been issued after a decision was taken in the first Cabinet meeting itself. Now, departments will work out procedures such as channelising funds. We’ve asked officials to bring details to the next Cabinet meeting,” he said. 
Slamming the BJP and JD(S) for criticising the Congress government, Parameshwara said the two parties are “jealous” after being defeated in the election. “There's no going back on the guarantees. We will implement them,” he said. 

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