BHUBANESWAR: In a major success for Odisha Police, a court in Balangir on Wednesday convicted Punjilal Meher, the mastermind of the sensational Patnagarh parcel bomb case, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The court of the Additional District Judge had recently completed the trial in the case, nearly seven years after the shocking incident that killed software engineer Soumya Sekhar Sahu and his maternal grandmother Jemamani Sahu.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Meher on two counts of murder and for causing grievous injury.
The case dates back to 23 February 2018, when a wedding gift was delivered to the residence of 26-year-old software engineer Soumya, just days after his marriage. When opened, the box exploded, killing Soumya and Jemamani. Soumya’s wife, Reema Sahu, was critically injured.
After the local police failed to make any headway, the Odisha government handed over the investigation to the Crime Branch, led by then-IG and Additional DG-ranked officer Arun Bothra.
Following a meticulous investigation and evidence gathering, the Crime Branch traced the case back to Meher, a lecturer at Jyoti Vikash College.
The probe revealed that he held a grudge against Soumya's mother, Sanjukta Sahu, who was his colleague and had replaced him as the principal of the college. To exact revenge, he sent a parcel bomb disguised as a wedding gift to her son.
For the Crime Branch, the case was particularly challenging due to the careful planning that went into assembling and delivering the bomb without leaving any significant clues that could lead back to Meher.
However, Bothra and his team eventually cracked the case, and Meher was arrested in April 2018, two months after the incident that had sent shockwaves across the state.
Soumya had married Reema, a native of Ghantrapada in Boudh district, on 18 February, and the reception was held at their Patnagarh residence on 20 February. On 23 February, two individuals arrived on a motorcycle and delivered a packet to Soumya, claiming it was a wedding gift.
When he opened the gift in the presence of his wife, mother, and grandmother Jemamani, the parcel exploded, leaving the couple and Jemamani seriously injured.
Though the injured were rushed to the district headquarters hospital in Balangir, Jemamani was declared dead. Soumya was shifted to VIMSAR in Burla, where he succumbed to his injuries. Reema had to undergo extensive treatment and a long recovery.