Patnagarh Parcel Gift Blast: No Breakthrough Yet For Crime Branch SIT

Balangir: A two-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Odisha Crime Branch Police which had gone to Raipur in Chhattisgarh to probe into the sensational parcel gift blast in Patnagarh area in Balangir district on February 23, has returned empty-handed after failing to trace out the killer.

Leave alone finding the killer, the SIT is yet to arrive at a specific conclusion on the exact reason behind the blast and the killing of the three persons.

The Crime Branch, in course of its investigation had come to know that the killer had sent the parcel through Skyking Courier from Raipur which came to Balangir via Sambalpur and finally to the house of the victims at Bholanathpada of Bramhapura village under Patnagarh police station limits. But as the courier service had not installed CCTV in its office, the sender could not be identified.

However, the SIT after arriving in Balangir had made a major breakthrough after it was tipped off by the Patnagarh police that the person who had sent the parcel bomb in a courier from Raipur, is an Odia and well versed in Hindi.

The SIT was informed by the Patnagarh police that before sending the parcel bomb through the Skyking courier, the assailant had tried sending the parcel through another courier company in Raipur. But as the concerned company staff expressed their inability to deliver the parcel at the designated address within 10 days, he sent the parcel through Skyking courier.

On the basis of the information, a two-member SIT had left for Raipur on March 27. Despite investigating into the various angles and interrogating the Skyking staff, the team failed to get any clue on the whereabouts of the sender and had to come back to Balangir on Sunday.

As informed by one of the SIT officials, though it was suspected that the incident could be the fallout of a love matter, it is not yet clear. Besides, it is also not known whether the incident was either due to a family quarrel or an enmity.

Asked about its next course of action, the official said the SIT has begun probe into the source of the bomb and the location where it was prepared. “We have planned to visit some factories in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where the country-made and other IED bombs are being made and get the details about the customers who procure these explosives,” he added.