Bhubaneswar: After prime accused in the sensational parcel bomb blast incident in Odisha’s Patnagarh was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday, investigators recalled how they zeroed in on mastermind Punjilal Meher though initially there was no direct evidence against him.
After struggling for evidence and witnesses, the Crime Branch finally achieved a breakthrough using forensic evidence and a mysterious and anonymous letter received during investigation into the incident that took place in 2018.
“From a blind situation to conviction, the Crime Branch team had worked hard on the investigation of the case. When we started the probe after the blast, nothing was found at the spot. After a month, the Crime Branch took over the case,” said Arun Bothra, who was the Inspector General of Police at that time.
Nobody suspected Punjilal Meher, who was known for his academic background and low-profile lifestyle. However, the investigation took a dramatic turn when the Crime Branch received an anonymous letter written in English, seemingly sent to mislead the police. But that very letter acted as a turning point and led the probe team to the truth.
In a bid to mislead investigators, Punjilal had sent an anonymous letter to the Balangir Superintendent of Police, falsely suggesting that the blast was the result of a love affair. However, police recovered a deleted file from his pen drive, which matched the contents of the anonymous letter. Forensic analysis confirmed that the letter had been typed on his personal laptop and printed at a local shop.
“The letter was written in English and the language, font, its size and spacing gave us a clue that it was written by someone well versed in English,” said Bothra.
Only one person in Patnagarh had the kind of refined English used in the letter — Punjilal Meher, the town’s former English teacher. This clue raised suspicion and led the team to dig deeper. Forensic experts matched the letter to Meher’s handwriting and traced the materials used — the envelope, stamps, and printer — back to him.
Punjilal had purchased ten envelopes and used one to send the letter. Later, we recovered nine unused envelopes, glue used from his house along with printer and laptop. It was the turning point in the case. The glue recovered from Punjilal’s house was sent for lab examination, which matched, he said.
The final breakthrough came when remnants of the parcel bomb, including the specific kind of wire used, were found in a dustbin near Punjilal’s residence. To further confirm their suspicions, investigators asked him to demonstrate how the bomb could have been assembled. Under supervision, Punjilal reconstructed the explosive in front of the Crime Branch officials, a chilling yet decisive moment in the probe.
During interrogation, Punjilal the team brought him to such a level that he showed us how to prepare the bomb. Punjilal had brought crackers and he removed all the gunpowder and threw the wrappers in dustbin outside his house and burnt it.
The Crime Branch team took some scrapping from the dustbin and the lab report confirmed that the bomb which exploded at victim’s house and the elements of the smoke are same in the dustbin. It proved it to be scientific evidence from the dustbin, Bothra said.
“All the clues, including the letter, the materials, the forensic evidence, and the live demonstration, pointed squarely to Punjilal. That’s what led to today’s conviction,” he added.
Notably, the 2018 parcel bomb blast had claimed the lives of newlywed Soumya Sekhar and his grandmother Jemamani, while his wife Reema Rani sustained critical injuries. The explosion occurred on February 23, four days after the couple’s wedding, when they opened a parcel disguised as a wedding gift.
