Patnagarh Parcel Bomb: Orissa HC Rejects Bail Plea Of Accused Punjilal Meher

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Friday rejected the bail application of Punjilal Meher, the accused in the parcel bomb blast case in Patnagarh of Balangir district.

Hearing the bail plea of Meher, a division bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahu of the High Court rejected it and directed to expedite hearing of the case. The court also told the state government counsel to submit the list of witnesses in the lower court.

Following investigation, police had filed 300-page preliminary charge sheet in the court in August, 2018. The chargesheet mentioned Meher, an English lecturer at Jyoti Vikas College in Patnagarh, as the accused.

The Crime Branch investigation revealed that Meher had sent a parcel bomb to the house of Sanjukta Sahu, the principal of the college, to eliminate her family to take revenge over a job related dispute.

The bomb wrapped in a gift package was sent by Meher from Raipur in Chhattisgarh to Sanjukta’s house on the occasion of her son Soumya Sekhar’s marriage on February 23, 2018.

Soumya and Sanjukta’s mother-in-law Jemamani died in the explosion while Soumya’s newly-married wife Rimarani sustained injuries.