Indian man dies after swallowing explosive disguised as sweet, two men arrested

The fatal incident

Police in Dindori district, Madhya Pradesh, say a 35-year-old man died after a homemade explosive was handed to him as a sweet. The events took place on the evening of Tuesday, 10 November, in the village of Padariya Chhanta, according to BBC Hindi, which places it under the Kotwali police station area. Several outlets report that the man was sitting by an open fire in his family's courtyard with his wife, a child and his grandmother when a neighbour arrived and the two men began chatting and joking. The neighbour then offered him a small ball that he called a rasgulla, a syrup-soaked Indian sweet, and urged him to try it, with the conversation reportedly turning to the Diwali festival. When the man bit down on it, it exploded in his mouth, and his wife told BBC Hindi that his jaw had torn open and his face became hard to recognise within moments.

The device and the hospital

Police describe the object as a locally made device used by some communities in the region to kill wild boars. It is made by packing explosive powder, taken from firecrackers or fireworks, into a ball of dough, which can resemble a well-known sweet. The family took the injured man to Dindori district hospital in an auto-rickshaw, and he died there during treatment, according to EL MUNDO, BFMTV and BBC Hindi. Fanpage, an Italian outlet, instead says he died on the spot, a version that differs from the other accounts. According to BBC Hindi, the body was returned to the family after a post-mortem the following day.

Arrests and investigation

Police have arrested two men, one of whom allegedly offered the sweet, and another who had found the device in a forest. Outlets differ on the charge: Spanish, Romanian and French reports say the suspects were accused of homicide and placed in detention, while BBC Hindi reports that police invoked a section of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, India's criminal code, against them. Dindori district police official Rekha Singh told AFP that investigators have not yet determined the motive, or whether the death was an error or a prank. According to BBC Hindi, early inquiries found no old enmity between the two arrested men and the victim. Investigators are now trying to establish where the explosive came from and who left it in the forest.

Open questions

The reports agree on the broad outline of the case but not on every detail, including where the man died. The victim's wife and child are left behind, according to BBC Hindi. Investigators are still searching for the origin of the explosive and the person who placed it in the forest. The next step is the completion of the inquiry into the motive and the roles of the two accused.