Mumbai: Youth revisits science lessons to make bottle bomb to get rid of rival

It's with the intention of getting rid his brother's adversary that this 20-year-old from Padgha used the theory of a switch circuit, which he learnt during a science exhibition at school, to develop a bottle bomb. The youth, Siddhesh Dalvi, along with brother Pramod Dalvi, 25, and friend Roshan Shelar, 19, are now under police custody, while the mother of the 'target' is treated for serious burn injuries at KEM hospital.

Abhijeet Gharat, 21, also of Padgha, found a black plastic bag with a message on his motorcycle on July 26. He brought the package home, but suspecting something fishy, did not open it. Two days later, out of curiosity, his mother Rekha Gharat, 45, opened it triggering a low-level explosion which left her injured on hand and face.

According to Thane rural police, two months back, Abhijeet had asked Pramod to stay away from a girl who was in an alleged affair with his friend Prasad Shelar. "Dalvi, in order to seek revenge, asked his brother Siddhesh, 20, to prepare a bottle bomb to get rid of Abhijeet," Mahesh Patil, superintendent of police (Thane Rural), told news persons here.

Siddhesh had learnt to prepare switch detonators during a school science exhibition and sought the help of his friend Roshan to place it when Abhijeet went to purchase food items at a market.

"We have registered the case under section 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the explosives substances Act, said Mahesh Patil.

"The accused used the explosives as if in firecrackers and made a circuit switch to trigger explosion when the circuit connects," said Patil.