‘Wedding bomb', professional rivalry: How English professor's ‘revenge' that killed 2 in Odisha ended in life term for him

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An Odisha court has sentenced a former English professor to life imprisonment for sending a parcel bomb, disguised as a 'wedding gift', that killed a newly married 26-year-old software engineer and his great aunt in 2018, while severely injuring his wife. The case shocked Odisha, and for weeks, there were no leads. Then, an anonymous letter became a turning point, leading to the arrest of Punjilal Meher, who attended both the wedding and the funeral of the victim read more
A court in Odisha has sentenced a former English professor to life imprisonment for sending a parcel bomb that killed a newlywed man and his great aunt in 2018. Punjilal Meher, 56, was found guilty of murder, attempted murder, and use of explosives.
The 2018 case had shaken Odisha and the rest of India. Here we will look at the tale of 'revenge' that took the lives of two people and how the police finally cracked the 'wedding bomb' case.
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'Wedding bomb' kills two
On February 23, 2018, Soumya Sekhar Sahu, a 26-year-old software engineer, and his 22-year-old wife, Reema, were in the kitchen at their family home in Patnagarh, Odisha.
It was five days after their wedding when a deliveryman gave Soumya a parcel addressed to him.
As per BBC, a sticker on the parcel said it was sent by one SK Sharma from Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
'This looks like a wedding gift,' Soumya is reported to have told his wife. 'The only thing that I don't know is the sender. I don't know anyone in Raipur.'
As Soumya opened the parcel, there was a flash of light and a huge explosion shook the kitchen. The blast killed him and his 85-year-old great-aunt Jemamani Sahu, both of whom had suffered 90 per cent burns.
Reema survived but had serious burns and a punctured eardrum.
Odisha police cracks the case
The Odisha police solved the 'wedding bomb' case after two months.
However, weeks after the crime, there were no clear suspects. They questioned more than 100 people, mostly friends and relatives of the couple, but did not get any leads.
The investigators said it was a meticulously planned and executed crime. After the police's initial investigation, the case was later taken over by the Odisha Crime Branch.
Speaking to BBC in March 2018, Reema said that her husband, Soumya, had received a mysterious call when he was in Bengaluru.
'The call came last year. We were talking on the phone, and he said there was a call coming in. And I vaguely remember he put me on hold, and later told me, 'I got a threatening call. A man on the line told me not to marry.''
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Soumya did not mention any other such calls, and the couple went ahead with the marriage.
The police scoured phone records and even interrogated the man who had made the threatening call to Soumya, but there was still no headway.
Then, an anonymous letter by the convict in April helped the Odisha Crime Branch, led by senior IPS officer Arun Bothra, crack the case.
The tale of English professor's 'revenge'
The letter, sent to the then Bolangir Superintendent of Police, said that the bomb was sent under the name 'SK Sinha,' not Sharma. It also claimed that three people were involved in the 'project' – the explosion – and mentioned the motive as 'his (Soumya's) betrayal' that led to many people losing their lives and money.
It also asked the police to 'stop harassing innocent people'.
The letter, which allegedly tried to derail the police investigation, turned the probe.
Arun Bothra, the then-IG and Additional DG-ranked officer, noticed that the handwriting on the parcel's sticker was misread: it appeared like 'Sinha' more than 'Sharma.' This is something that only the sender of the letter could have known. The police believed now that the suspect had sent the letter himself, as per BBC.
'It was clear that the sender knew more about the crime than we did. By writing that it was being sent by a messenger, he wanted to tell us that the crime was not the work of a local man. He wanted to tell us that the plot was executed by three people. He wanted to be taken seriously, so he was kind of blowing his fake cover by pointing out a mistake we had made,' Bothra told BBC in 2018.
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As per Indian Express, the senior IPS officer said the letter was meant to'deceive' the investigation agency, but the accused had left 'many clues in the letter'.
'The language, the font size and the spacing in the letter indicated that it was sent by someone with command over English. It led us to zero in on the accused, who was an English lecturer. When we searched his house, we got some evidence, which was scientifically matched. That was the turning point in the case,' Bothra said.
Soumya's mother and college teacher, Sanjukta Sahu, recognised the writing style and phraseology in the letter, linking it to her colleague, Punjilal Meher, as reported by BBC.
The police then questioned Meher, who initially claimed that he was forced to deliver the letter under threat.
However, he later confessed. Meher, an English lecturer, planned the crime after Sanjukta replaced him as the principal of Jyoti Vikas College in Bhainsa.
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He began hoarding firecrackers during Diwali, extracted gunpowder from them and used the internet to learn how to assemble bombs.
The bomb he made was put in a cardboard box and gift-wrapped. Days before the blast, Meher went to college and came back home to collect the parcel, as per I_ndian Express._
He went to Kantabanji with the parcel and then took a train to Chhattisgarh's Raipur, around 250 km from Patnagarh town.
He did not buy a train ticket to avoid detection. In Raipur, Meher searched for courier services that operated from basements and had no CCTVs. He told the services that the parcel had 'gift articles'. Police sources told the newspaper that he gave the fake name – SK Sinha – as the sender's and a wrong address. Meher returned home on an evening train.
The bomb travelled more than 650 km by bus, exchanging multiple hands before the delivery to the victim. As per investigators, it was a crude but deadly device wrapped in jute thread, which was meant to detonate on opening the parcel, reported BBC.
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The 'wedding gift' reached Patnagarh on February 20 and Soumya received it three days later.
Meher, who had also left his phone at home to create an alibi, had attended both the victim's wedding and funeral.
In August 2018, the Crime Branch's chargesheet mentioned statements of 72 witnesses. Its evidence included the letter and receipt books of the parking lot at Kantabanji railway station.
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Sahu family gets justice
Over seven years after losing her son, Sanjukta Sahu has got justice. A Sessions Court in Odisha's Bolangir district on Wednesday (May 28) convicted Meher to life imprisonment.
The lone accused in the 2018 Patnagarh parcel bomb case was sentenced after days of a marathon hearing, which included the examination of 62 witnesses, reported LiveLaw.
While the prosecution had demanded the death penalty for Meher for the 'heinous' crime, the court did not classify it as a ' rarest of the rare ' case.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict.
Sanjukta Sahu expressed satisfaction with the court ruling. However, she pointed out that she could not get back what she lost.
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'We were hoping for capital punishment in the crime considering its rarest of the rare nature. But the court sentenced life imprisonment. We express our gratitude to the court,' Rabindra Sahu, the victim's father, reportedly said outside the court.
With inputs from agencies