Bhubaneswar: Nearly seven years after the parcel bomb incident rocked Odisha, the additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) court, Patnagarh, on Wednesday convicted prime accused Punjilal Meher and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Meher on two counts of murder and for causing grievous injury.
The case dates back to February 23, 2018, when newly-married Soumya Sekhar Sahu and his grandmother, Jemamani, were killed after a wedding gift received through courier exploded at their house in Patnagarh. Soumya’s wife Reema Rani also sustained critical injuries in the explosion.
After the local police failed to make any headway, the Odisha government handed over the investigation to the Crime Branch, led by then-IG and Additional DG-ranked officer Arun Bothra, in March 2018.
Subsequent investigation revealed that the gift box was delivered by a courier from Raipur via Sambalpur and weighed 2.1 kg.
The Odisha Crime Branch arrested Meher on April 24, 2018. He was accused of orchestrating the attack due to a dispute with Soumya’s mother, Sanjukta, who had succeeded him as principal at Jyoti Vikash College, Bhainsa.
