Mumbai:
"He wanted to name her Arpita, but she will never hear her father call her by that name," said an inconsolable Ashwini, who was sitting outside J J Hospital's morgue with her month-and-a-half old unnamed daughter.
Ashok Bate (35) died at the JJ hospital yesterday after 50 per cent burns and serious injuries to his abdomen and left arm.
They have three children Aditya (9), Divya (8) and the infant. Bate worked as a peon in an office in Zaveri Bazaar and had gone to Khau Galli with his colleagues to snack on a vada pav, when the blast took place.
"He always ate at Khau Galli, I never thought he would die like this. What will happen to my three children," cried Ashwini, who sensed something wrong when her husband was transferred from ward number 35 to the critical care unit last afternoon.
"He (Ashok) told me yesterday he would come home soon. Why did he not come back," sobbed an uncontrollable Ashwini. His mother Radhika (60) added, "After the blast, Ashok was in a conscious state, he told the passer-by to inform his boss and his family about the blast.
After receiving the call we rushed to GT hospital from where he was later transferred to JJ Hospital. He told me that a few burnt people fell on him."
Apart from the burns, Ashok had injuries in his abdomen and left arm. He had also fractured his spinal cord for which he was operated upon by the orthopedic surgeons at JJ Hospital.
Pandurang, the victim's younger brother, said that on Monday night, his brother had called to speak to him and asked him to remove the oxygen mask.
Reportedly, Ashok had told him, "After I get out of the hospital, we will all stay together in the same house." The forensic doctors who performed the postmortem procedure on Ashok said that he succumbed to his burns.