Kerala: In a lethal hug, man blows up self, friend’s wife

KOZHIKODE: In an lethal embrace, a man from Kerala’s Wayanad district allegedly killed himself and a woman setting off an explosion from a device strapped to his body.

According to Times Of India reports, the two deceased persons were identified as 38-year-old Amala, wife of Elvana Nazar and 48-year-old man Peringattel Benny from Moolankavu.

Police said the incident occurred when Benny visited Nazar’s house at Naikkatti, near Sultan Bethery in Wayanad at around 1.30 pm of Friday, 26 April while Nazar was out to a nearby mosque.

Benny strapped “thotta”, an improvised explosive used for fishing in the river, to his waist, embraced Amala triggering an explosion that dismembered their bodies.

The TOI report further mentioned that Amala’s five-year-old daughter was knocked unconscious by the blast but wasn’t injured.

When the people who were at the nearby mosque for Friday prayers heard the explosion, they came running to the house.

Benny was a family friend of Nazar. Amala and Nazar ran an Akshaya centre at Naikkatti. The police said they were yet to verify reports that he had a relationship with Amala.

Amala survived by her husband and three daughters while Benny, a carpenter is survived by a wife and two children.

The blast site was investigated by a team of forensic experts, bomb squad personnel and a dog squad.