Bolangir: The Additional District Judge (ADJ) court on Friday rejected the bail application of Punjilal Meher, accused in the sensational Patnagarh parcel gift blast.
Meher will now move the High Court for bail, said his lawyer told media persons here.
Meher, who is now lodged at the Patnagarh sub-jail, was arrested by the Crime Branch Special Investigation Team (SIT) on April 24. The SIT had taken him on a two-phase remand on April 26 and May 2. Meher had been taken to Raipur by the SIT on multiple occasions in a bid to piece together a complex revenge plot he had allegedly weaved to eliminate a colleague. The story has since been adapted by Sony TV for its popular ‘Crime Patrol’ series.
Meher had booked the parcel through a courier in Raipur with the help of a rickshaw puller and an auto rickshaw driver. He had travelled to Raipur without a ticket in a train he boarded from Kantabanjhito avoid being identified/ However his ingenious scheme was exposed when the crime branch team lead by Arun Bothra chanced upon a letter he has written to the police in an attempt to mislead investigators.
The incident that had sent shock waves across the state, had taken place at Bholanathpada village on February 23 when the newly-wed couple Soumya Sekhar Sahu, his wife Rimarani, were grievously injured along with their grandmother while opening what looked like a gift pack.
While Soumya Sekhar and his grandmother succumbed to their injuries, Rimamani was rushed to VIMSAR in Burla and later shifted to SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttack.
Following a request by Rimarani and her family, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had ordered a CBI SIT probe into the incident.
