After the Additional District Judge (ADJ) court, Bolangir on June 1 had rejected the bail application of Meher, his counsel Srimat Kumar Panigrahi had said they would move the High Court for bail.
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’ serial.
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 Kantabanjhi to avoid being identified. However, his ingenious scheme was exposed when the SIT, led by Crime Branch IG, 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 under Patnagarh police station limits 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 in Cuttack.
Following a request by Rimarani and her family, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had ordered a CBI SIT probe into the incident.