Villager turns suicide bomber

Lucknow: Ram Sanehi Varma, 28, killed the man whom he believed had duped him of his money and himself on Tuesday.

His death, however, has left the Uttar Pradesh police in a quandary and his family in a state of despair because Varma did not commit the murder [or the suicide] in a manner that ordinary mortals do he turned himself into a human bomb and blew up his enemy and himself.

His wife Suman and a labourer were also killed in the explosion.

The police are now probing how a seemingly simple young man could gather the expertise to turn himself into a human bomb.

"This is the first time that anyone has turned himself into a human bomb to settle personal scores.

"Ram Sanehi Varma had no criminal record and people in the village insist that he had no interaction with criminals either. It is puzzling how he learnt the technique to convert himself into a human bomb," says a senior police official.

Ram Sanehi Varma, a resident of Kalyanpur village in Biswan in Sitapur district, about 80km north of Lucknow, worked as a bus driver on contract basis with the Uttar Pradesh Roadways Corporation until his contract was terminated.

One Suresh Chandra Gupta, a brick kiln owner, assured Ram Sanehi that he would get him a permanent job as a driver with the UP Roadways for Rs100,000 (Dh8,333). Eager to get the job, Ram Sanehi sold off a portion of his land and gave the money to Gupta.

While hundreds of drivers were recruited by the UP Roadways, Ram Sanehi's name did not figure on the list. When he confronted Gupta, the latter made several excuses and refused to pay back the money.

"I do not know what to do. People ridicule me for selling off my land and even if I commit suicide, they will continue to make fun of my family. I have lost my money and all my hope," he wrote in his diary, a week before the incident.

On Tuesday, Ram Sanehi, along with his wife Suman, went to meet Suresh Chandra Gupta at the brick kiln and asked the latter to return the money. "He intentionally entered into a scuffle with Gupta and suddenly pulled a wire under his vest that activated the explosives hidden in his underwear. The explosion was so severe that Ram Sanehi, his wife, Suresh Chandra Gupta and a labourer standing nearby died on the spot," says R.N. Singh, a police officer.

A senior police officer said if an innocent villager could get the expertise to become a human bomb, "we are heading for a lot of trouble".