'Wedding bomber' wey hide bomb inside gift chop life imprisonment for India

BBC News

5 days ago

One former college principal for di Odisha state for eastern India don chop life in prison sentence on top say e send parcel bomb wey kill one newly married ma and im great aunty for 2018.
Court find 56-year-old Punjilal Meher say e dey guilty of murder, attempted murder, and use of explosives for wetin dem dey call di "wedding bomb" case wey shock India.
Im bin make di bomb to resemble wedding gift send am to 26 year old Soumya Sekhar Sahu, wey bin dey work as software engineer, just some days afta e do im wedding
Wen di couple open di package, na so e just explode kill Sahu and im great hand injure im wife Reema well-well.
Di February 2018 explosion bin happun for Patnagarh, wey be quiet town for di Bolangir district for Odisha.
Di victims bin marry for just five days and bin dey make lunch wen parcel land dia house. Di parcel bin addressed to Soumya nad resemble wedding gift allegedly from Raipur in Chattisgarh state, wey be ova 230km (142 miles) away.
As Soumya bin dey loose thread from di parcel to open am, na so ogbonge boom just scata di kitchen, kill am and im 85 year old great aunt, Jemamani Sahu, den 22 year old Reema bin survive but get serious burns, punctured eardrum and trauma.
Afta long investigate, police come arrest Meher, wey at dat time be 49 years and na teacher and former principal of one local college wey Soumya mama bin dey work.
Investigators tok say Meher bin get beef on top of work mata, na so e come carefully plan di attack. E use fake name and address take mail di bomb from Raipur. E even choose dispatcher wey no get CCTV or parcel scanning.
Di bomb travel by bus for 650km and pass plenti pipo hand bifor dem deliver am. Investigators say na local but deadly device wey dem wrap wit jute thread arrange say e go blow wen dem open am.
Di parcel wey hold d bomb bin get fake name on am, SK Sharma from Raipur. For weeks, dem no get any suspects. Investigators check thousands of phone records and interrogate ova 100 pipo including one man wey bin make threatening call afta Reema engagement, but notin sure.
Until April wen di local police chief get anonymous letter.
Di letter claim say, di bomb bin dey sent under di name "SK Sinha" no be Sharma and bin mention motives of "betrayal" and money.
Di letter claim say three men bin "do di project" and now "don ass who police fit catch". E mention say na di groom "betrayal" and money cause am, say na lover or property mata fit don cause am. Dem also ask make police stop to dey harass innocent pipo.
Dat letter change di investigation.
Arun Bothra wey be police officer wey bin dey lead Odisha crime branch dat time notice say dem read di handwriting for di parcel wrong, say e resemble "Sinha" pass "Sharma."
Most importantly be say di pesin wey write di letter know am as na only who send di parcel fit know am.
Di police come reason say na di suspect imself send di letter.
Oga Bothra, for 2018 tok say, "e clear say di sender bin know about di crime pass us sef.
As im write say e bin dey send by messenger, e bin wan tell us say no be local man do dis crime. E wan tell us say e take three pipo to run am. E bin wan make we take am seriously, so e just expose imself one kain wen e point out our mistake."
Di victim mama, wey be college teacher recognise di letter writing pattern say na her colleague own. Na Meher wey be former principal wey she replace.
Meher bin first give one long tori about how dem force am wit threat to deliver di letter during tori.
Police allege say e later confess say e bin don hold firecrackers from Diwali, comot di gunpowder, build di bomb and mail am from Raipur wit courier.
E come allegedly leave im phone for house to create alibi and dodge CCTV wen e no buy train ticket. Meher bin even attend di victim wedding and im burial.
Additional reporting by Sandeep Sahu in Bhubaneshwar