V-Day plan a death call for city girl

Valentine’s Day won’t be the same for Binita Gadani’s family and friends. On the insistence of her friends, who wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day together, the 22-year-old software engineer from Kandivli travelled to Pune a day before her scheduled trip. She did not live to see Valentine’s Day.

She was killed in the blast at German Bakery at Koregaon Park in
Pune on Saturday. Binita had completed her engineering from Thakur College in Kandivli and worked as a junior executive with Amdocs Pune, a Pune-based IT firm, since June last year.

“She came to Mumbai a week ago to attend her elder sister Bijal’s engagement and was supposed to go back to Pune on Sunday afternoon. But Binita’s friends from Pune called her and persuaded her to come early to celebrate Valentine’s Day,” said Harminder Singh, a neighbour of the Gadanis in Dhanukar Wadi.

Binita left for Pune at 6.30am on Saturday, a day before Valentine’s Day. “She was taking a stroll at Koregaon Park with four colleagues with whom she shared a room in Pune on Saturday evening. The blast took place when the group was passing by the German Bakery,” Singh said. Binita and her friend P Sinduri died in the blast.   

Binita was identified through an identity card which was found on her person. The police traced her address and informed her family about her death at 10pm on Saturday. Shaken by the news, Binita’s parents and relatives left for Pune immediately.

Binita is the younger daughter of Bipin, who works with a private firm in Bhiwandi. Her mother is a housewife and her chartered accountant sister Bijal is employed with a private firm in Mumbai.

“Binita was a very social person and greeted everyone with a smile,” said her neighbours at Milan apartments, where the Gadanis have been living for 25 years.

“Bijal’s engagement ceremony took place with great pomp and fervour at Sarovar hall near Kandivli station. The Gadani family looked very happy,” said BB Bhawsar, another neighbour. A pall of gloom now surrounds the Gadani home in Kandivli.

Binita’s mother returned to Mumbai on Sunday morning while the rest of the family is in Pune trying to obtain custody of Binita’s body.
Anshoo Gaur, Amdocs India head, said, “Two of our employees lost their lives in the bomb attack at the German Bakery. Our heart goes out to their families.”