BHUBANESWAR: Rabindra Sahu, father of software engineer Soumya Sekhar Sahu who had died in the Patnagarh parcel bomb, on Wednesday said the family wanted capital punishment for Punjilal Meher, the mastermind of the case.
Sahu, a retired professor of Patnagarh College, however, was satisfied that Punjilal was handed life imprisonment for the heinous crime that robbed the family of their only son.
“We wanted death penalty for Punjilal Meher considering the grievous crime he committed which left our entire family shattered and grieving till date. However, there is a sense of contentment as he was sentenced to life,” Sahu told The New Indian Express over phone. He also had a word of appreciation for Crime Branch which he said investigated the case very meticulously.
The family of Soumya, who was killed along with his maternal grandmother Jemamani Sahu (85) in the gruesome wedding parcel explosion on February 23, 2018, said nothing can compensate his loss but they were content with the court’s verdict.
Soumya’s mother Sanjukta Sahu and his wife Rani Reema too wanted capital punishment for Punjilal. “The Supreme Court has noted that death penalty should be used sparingly and only in exceptional cases. Our case was entirely based on circumstantial evidence and considering all that, we are satisfied with the court’s verdict,” said Sahu.
After the tragic incident, Reema Rani remarried and is living overseas now. She is in regular contact with the Sahu family and they informed her about the court’s verdict earlier in the day.