Patnagarh: A district court in Odisha Wednesday sentenced Punjilal Meher to life imprisonment in connection with the 2018 Patnagarh parcel bomb blast case that left two people dead and one seriously injured.
The Additional District Judge (ADJ) court in Patnagarh found Meher guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code, along with relevant provisions of the Explosive Substances Act.
The court also reportedly imposed a fine of Rs 1,70,000.
Public prosecutors argued for the death penalty, calling the crime “alarming to society” and “executed in a cold and calculated manner.” However, the court observed that the case did not meet the criteria for the “rarest of rare” category and opted for life imprisonment instead.
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The Odisha Crime Branch had arrested Meher April 24, 2018, after an investigation revealed he had orchestrated the blast over a long-standing personal dispute with Sanjukta Sekhar, the mother of the victim Soumya Sekhar.
Soumya and his grandmother, Jemamani, died February 23, 2018 — just four days after his wedding — when a parcel bomb disguised as a gift exploded as the couple unwrapped it at their home in Patnagarh. His wife, Reema Rani, sustained serious injuries but survived.
According to the state Crime Branch, the convict Punjilal Meher had sent the parcel bomb inside a gift wrap to Saumya’s house on his wedding. The bomb went off while unsuspecting Saumya was opening gift packets in front of his wife and grandmother.
It can be mentioned here that Meher worked and served as the Principal of Bhainsa college. He was removed from the Principal’s post after Soumya’s mother Sanjukta joined the college. In a bid to take revenge, Meher planned and executed the blast with the aim of eliminating the entire family.
PNN
