‘A third person answered his phone and told us he’s dead’

Two days before Premraj Soni was to leave for Jodhpur to make arrangements for his daughter Meenakshi’s November wedding, the 45-year-old was killed in the Zaveri Bazaar blast on Wednesday.

Two days before Premraj Soni was to leave for Jodhpur to make arrangements for his daughter Meenakshi’s November wedding, the 45-year-old was killed in the Zaveri Bazaar blast on Wednesday.

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“His daughter’s wedding was the first wedding in the family in 20 years. He wanted to make it a grand affair,” said Govind Soni, Premraj’s to-be son-in-law, who flew in from Jodhpur on Thursday morning for Soni’s last rites.

A Chembur resident, Soni ran a jewellery shop at Kurla. He went to Zaveri Bazaar on Wednesday at 5pm.

“He went to Zaveri Bazaar only once a month to purchase jewellery. Wednesday’s trip could have been postponed but Soni decided to get done with the work.

That was the last that we saw of him,” said Meenakshi.

“After the blast, we called his mobile phone but the networks were jammed,” said Damodar Soni, nephew.

“When we sent a text message, we got a delivery report which led us to believe he was safe.”

“When we called again, a third person answered the phone and asked us to rush to GT Hospital.”

Soni was brought dead to the hospital and was transferred to JJ Hospital for a postmortem. He is survived by his wife Kalavati, 40, daughter Meenakshi, 21, sons Arjun, 19, and Gajendra, 17, and his mother Rami Devi, 80.

At JJ hospital, the sons identified Soni’s body and the cellphone that had their mother’s message asking their father if he was safe.