One Person Critically Injured In Parcel Bomb Explosion

Bargarh: An unidentified parcel exploded in front of a house at Bhalupatra village in Atabira in Bargarh district on Saturday.

A local resident, CH Nagabhushan, was critically injured in the explosion, informed Bargarh SP Mukesh Kumar Bhamoo.

It is yet to be ascertained who placed the packet there and what were its contents. The police have started investigating the matter.

According to sources, the packet was kept on the boundary wall of Nagabhusan’s house. It exploded when he was examining it. Iron nails and cloth pieces were found from the spot.

Panic gripped the locals after the incident. It reminded them of a similar incident, when a parcel bomb killed a newly-married software engineer Soumya Sekhar Sahu and left his wife Rimarani Sahu grievously wounded in Patnagarh in Balangir district on February 23. Punjilal Meher, English lecturer and former principal of Jyoti Bikash College at Bhainsa was the alleged mastermind behind the incident. Meher had booked the parcel through a courier in Raipur with the help of a rickshaw puller and an auto rickshaw driver.

Following a request by Rimarani and her family, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had ordered a CBI SIT probe into the incident.