Odisha: English lecturer gets life term for 2018 parcel bomb that killed two

The newly-wed bride, Reema, 22, suffered extensive injuries in the explosion and was admitted to hospital for more than a month

Bhubaneswar: An Odisha court on Wednesday sentenced an English lecturer of a private college to life imprisonment for executing a bomb blast that killed a newly-wed software engineer, his grandmothers and severely injured his wife in 2018.

Soumya and Reema had been married for five days. (ANI)

Seven years ago the bomb, sent by courier from Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, exploded when Soumya Sekhar Sahu (26) opened the parcel at his family home in Bolangir’s Patnagarh town on February 23. The explosion killed him and his grandmother Jemamani Sahu, 85. The newly-wed bride, Reema (22) suffered extensive injuries in the explosion and was admitted to hospital for more than a month. Soumya and Reema had been married for five days.

Additional sessions judge of Patnagarh Sonali Patnaik sentenced lecturer Punjilal Meher, who taught at Jyoti Vikas College in western Odisha’s Patnagarh town in Bolangir district, to life imprisonment and penalty of ₹50000. The court sentenced Meher under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Explosive Substances Act, terming the crime as “heinous” and “premeditated”.

Rabindra Sahu, the father of the victim, said, “The parcel, delivered by Sky King Courier from Raipur, detonated when Soumya pulled a thread, causing extensive damage to the house, including cracked walls and shattered windows. While Jemamani died en route to the hospital, Soumya succumbed to his injuries at V.S.S. Medical College and Hospital, Burla.”

According to the state CID that took over the case, Meher was aggrieved over the software engineer’s mother, Sanjukta Sahu, replacing him as the principal. He was the principal from 2009 till May 2014, when Sanjukta, a history lecturer and became the principal of the college. This rankled Meher and triggered hate and envy in his mind for her.

Police said Meher watched bomb-making videos on YouTube, scoured the internet for manuals, and then erased his search history. During Diwali 2017, he purchased a large quantity of firecrackers and began experimenting. Before assembling the fatal bomb, he dismantled the firecrackers and packed their contents into LED lights used for Diwali decorations, triggering smaller explosions as tests.

On the day he travelled to Raipur by train to send the bomb disguised as a wedding gift to the Sahu household, Meher first attended a class and marked his attendance. He didn’t even buy a ticket for the journey. In Raipur, he used a cycle rickshaw and a tuk-tuk to visit various courier services, eventually booking the parcel at one of them and declaring its contents as “gift articles, sweets.” The parcel travelled 650 km by bus, passing through multiple hands before reaching the Sahu household.

Police found a copy of the courier agency’s receipt from his house in Patnagarh town. He had left his phone at home to create an alibi.

The parcel, sent through a courier in Raipur, was initially attributed to a sender named ‘SK Sharma’—a name investigators later confirmed to be fake. According to the CID, during the investigation, an anonymous letter was sent to the Balangir superintendent of police (SP), claiming the parcel was actually sent by ‘SK Sinha’, not ‘SK Sharma’. The letter alleged that three men carried out the blast due to the groom’s “betrayal and a financial dispute,” suggesting motives such as a scorned lover or property issues. It also urged the police to “remain silent” and avoid harassing innocent people. This letter helped the state CID zero in on Meher. The victim’s mother identified Meher as a potential suspect after noticing similarities between the phrasing in the letter and his writing style—particularly his use of the phrase “completing the project.”

Meher reportedly attended both the wedding and Soumya’s funeral, to avoid any suspicion.