Gujarat: Man strapped with explosives blows himself up with wife
Modasa, Feb 25: A man and his wife died in a blast after he detonated some explosives, which he had strapped around himself at a village in Arvalli district of Gujarat, police said on Friday.
The incident took place at B T Chhapra village of Meghraj taluka, around 30 km from Modasa, on Thursday night, an official said.
Lala Pagi (47) wrapped some gelatine sticks, a detonator switch and connecting wires around his body and reached his in-laws' house, where he hugged his wife Shardaben (43) and pressed the detonator switch, triggering the explosion, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bharat Basia said.
Preliminary probe has revealed that Pagi was angry with his wife, who had left him and was living with her parents, following a dispute a month ago, the official said.
"Pagi, a construction labourer, was a native of Muloj village of Modasa taluka and was married to Shardaben for the last 20 years. Since he used to beat his wife frequently, she was living at her parent's place in BT Chhapra village since last one month," he said.
Gelatine sticks are cheap explosive materials used for carrying out low-intensity blasts to dig wells in rural areas and in the mining sector.
"As soon as Shardaben came out of her house, Pagi hugged her and pressed the detonator switch, which triggered the explosion. Both died on the spot. We have lodged a case of murder against Pagi. We are probing the source of the explosives," the official said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
