A glamorous lawmaker representing Russia’s third most populous city Novosibirsk died along with her husband, a former military official, in a car bomb explosion late Friday, The Siberian Times reports.
Their four-year-old, who was not in the car, has been orphaned by the tragedy.
The blast occurred around 10.50 pm when Novosibirsk regional legislative deputy Oksana Bobrovskaya, 30, and her husband Nikita Bobrovsky were in the back seat of their Toyota RAV-4 car parked close to her workplace.
Novosibirsk Mayor Anatoly Lokot said the blast that killed the deputy of United Russia Party, associated with President Vladimir Putin, was not a terrorist act adding she had family problems.
Vitaly Latypov, head of the investigation department of Oktyabrsky district, said a ‘common grenade’ caused the explosion.
Witnesses said the couple were “naked below the belt” when their bodies were removed from the vehicle.
Various accounts suggest that a jealous Nikita may have detonated a “grenade, or a piece of TNT” he was holding in his hand in a fit of rage or someone might have planted an explosive device inside or under the vehicle to kill him.
Police did not buy these theories and they are looking for solid evidence.
They also dismissed reports that the couple were having sex in the car.
LifeNews, quoting an anonymous police source, said forensic evidence indicated the couple had sex before the explosion.
Local reports say Nikita suspected his wife was having an affair with a wealthy local businessman. That Nikita was out of work and she was the sole breadwinner further strained their ties.
Oksana worked as a lawmaker and also as a deputy general director of a leading construction company of Novosibirsk.
The car was parked close to the company’s office when the couple was killed and a source said it was provided to Oksana by her company boss.
Evgenia Romanova, an eyewitness, told Siberian Times: “First there was an explosion. The security alarms on neighboring cars started to scream, and I joked to my husband that the war with Turkey must have began.
“And then I looked out of the window and saw this all carnage. My husband went down to the street, and I looked through the window. It was horrific something you would not wish anyone to see. No heads, glass covered in blood… a nightmare,” Romanova said.