Latest news with #Meher
NDTV
5 days ago
- NDTV
Ex-College Principal, Who Sent Bomb In Form Of Wedding Gift, Gets Life Term
A former college principal in Odisha, who carried out what was India's first parcel bomb blast and killed two people seven years ago, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court on Wednesday. Punjilal Meher (56), the former principal of Jyoti Vikas Junior College in Bolangir district's Patnagarh, was found guilty of murder, attempt to murder and use of explosives after the blast killed a software engineer Soumya Sekhar Sahu and his great aunt Jemamani Sahu. Meher, officials said, carried out the murder out of professional jealousy with Sahu's mother, who replaced him as principal. The Additional District and Sessions Court in Bolangir acknowledged the prosecution's argument that the murder was a "heinous" crime but refused to classify it as a "rarest of the rare" case that deserved death penalty. It also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict. The incident dates back to February 23, 2018, when Sahu's family received a gift in the form of a parcel, days after his wedding. As Sahu opened the parcel, the bomb inside it exploded, killing him and his great aunt on the spot. His wife, Reema, suffered grievous injuries in the blast. The explosion was so powerful that it left cracks on the walls of the victim's house. It also left Sahu's parents in a state of shock. The case was initially handled by the local police, before it was handed over to the Crime Branch amid a massive uproar. The Crime Branch led by then Inspector General Arun Bothra gradually learnt that the parcel was sent from Raipur in Chhattisgarh. Bolangir police also received an anonymous letter suggesting betrayal and financial loss as the possible motives behind the murder. In February 2019, the Crime Branch arrested Meher in the case. It was subsequently revealed that he carried out the blast out of professional jealousy. During the course of interrogation, Meher said he was furious after he was replaced as the college principal by Sahu's mother. He said he travelled to Raipur without a mobile phone and a train ticket to avoid coming under the scanner, to post the package, and returned to Odisha the same day. Mr Bothra, who played a pivotal role in the investigation, testified as the 60th witness in December last year, providing evidence to help establish the chain of events leading to the blast.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
'Wedding Bomb' Murderer Who Killed Newlywed Man with Exploding Parcel Disguised as Gift Sentenced to Life: Reports
A former college principal in India has been sentenced to life in prison after being accused of sending a parcel bomb disguised as a wedding gift that exploded, killing two people, according to reports Soumya Sekhar Sahu, 26, and his great aunt Jenamani, 85, died in the February 2018 attack, which happened just five days after Sahu's wedding, per the Indian Express Sahu's wife, then 22, survived but suffered severe injuriesA former college principal and English lecturer has been sentenced to life imprisonment after sending a parcel bomb that ended up killing two people, including a newlywed man, in India, according to reports. On Wednesday, May 28, Punjilal Meher learned his fate at a court in Odisha's Bolangir district, seven years after Soumya Sekhar Sahu, 26, and his great aunt Jenamani, 85, died in the explosion, per the Indian Express. Sahu's wife Reema also sustained severe injuries in the attack, the outlet reported. The pair had been married for just five days when they opened the parcel Sahu had received at his home in the town of Patnagarh before it exploded on Feb. 23, 2018. The parcel had reportedly been sent to the victim "in the form of a wedding gift," the publication added. The court found Meher, who was 49 at the time of the attack, guilty of murder, attempted murder and use of explosives in what has been dubbed the "wedding bomb" case, the BBC reported. According to the Hindustan Times, the victim's wife Reema, then 22, spent more than a month in the hospital following the attack. Judge Sonali Patnaik sentenced Meher, who taught English at a private college, to life, as well as ordering him to pay a fine of 50,000 Indian Rupee (approximately $585), the outlet reported. The prosecution acknowledged that it was a "heinous" crime that the suspect had committed, but chose not to classify it as a "rarest of the rare" case resulting in the death penalty, the BBC reported. The outlet reported that the victims had been preparing lunch when the parcel, allegedly sent from Raipur in Chattisgarh state approximately 142 miles away, arrived. The victim's father, Rabindra Sahu, said of the explosion, '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," per the Hindustan Times. "While Jemamani died en route to the hospital, Soumya succumbed to his injuries at V.S.S. Medical College and Hospital, Burla," he added, according to the outlet. Reema suffered serious burns, a punctured eardrum and trauma following the attack, the BBC reported. Investigators told the outlet that Meher, who was a former principal of a local college where Sahu's mother worked, "harbored a grudge over professional rivalry and meticulously planned the attack." The victim's mother had allegedly previously replaced Meher as principal. Meher, who was thought to have attended both the victim's wedding and funeral, had reportedly used a false name ("SK Sharma from Raipur") and address to send the parcel bomb from Raipur, as well as opting for a courier service that didn't have CCTV or parcel scanning, per the BBC. The parcel was allegedly "rigged to detonate on opening." Police initially spent weeks investigating the case with no real leads, before the local police chief received an anonymous letter in April 2018, per the BBC. The letter claimed the bomb had been sent under the name "SK Sinha," not "Sharma," and allegedly mentioned motives of money and the groom's "betrayal," and hinted at a scorned lover or property dispute as motives. It also alleged that three men had "undertaken the project" but were now "beyond police reach," as well as alleging that officers were "harassing" innocent people, per the outlet. According to the outlet, local police officer Arun Bothra, who headed Odisha's crime branch at the time, noticed that the writing on the parcel's receipt had been misread and it resembled "Sinha" more than "Sharma." This led to police to believe the suspect had sent the letter himself. Bothra told the BBC in 2018, "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," the officer adde. According to the outlet, the victim's mother ended up recognizing the letter's writing style and phraseology as that of Meher. Meher initially told the authorities he was forced to deliver the parcel under threat, but police allege he later confessed to hoarding firecrackers during Diwali, extracting gunpowder and building a bomb, before mailing it from Raipur using a courier, per the outlet. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. On the day he sent the parcel, Meher reportedly left his phone at home to create an alibi after making sure to attend a college class and mark his attendance, the Hindustan Times reported. He then traveled by train to Raipur, but didn't buy a ticket. He'd reportedly marked the parcel's contents as "gift articles, sweets," the outlet reported. Sahu's father told reporters outside the court after the verdict was delivered, '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,' per the Indian Express. PEOPLE has attempted to contact India's Department of Justice for additional information. Read the original article on People
The Hindu
6 days ago
- The Hindu
Life sentence for college teacher who plotted sensational murder in Odisha
A local court in Odisha on Wednesday (May 28, 2025) sentenced Punjilal Meher, a college teacher, to rigorous life imprisonment for sending a parcel bomb to the home of a woman colleague who had been promoted ahead of him. The bomb, camouflaged as a wedding gift, exploded and killed two persons, including her newlywed son at Patnagarh in Balangir district on February 23, 2018. The murder, infamously known as the Patnagarh parcel bomb case, shook the entire State and later went on to become plot of movies in multiple languages. What stunned everyone was the sheer incomprehensibility of the motive — a college teacher orchestrating a brutal murder simply because his woman colleague was appointed principal of a college he believed should have been his. Additional District Judge, Patnagarh, Sonali Patnaik found him guilty under Sections 302, 307 and 201 of the IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. After seven years of trial, the convict was sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 302 of the IPC and Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. He was also handed imprisonment of 10 years each separately and seven years on different counts. Total penalty imposed on him was ₹1.40 lakh. As many as 62 witnesses were examined, 100 numbers of documentary evidence and 51 material objects were submitted in the court. The convict Meher, an English teacher, was in-charge principal of Jyoti Vikash College since 2009 and he felt threatened after senior lecturer Sanjukta Sahu became principal in 2014. Despite her seniority, he refused to step down, showed no respect, issued threats, and began creating controversies out of anger and jealousness. He began to hatch a plan to cause unimaginable pain to Ms. Sahu. Ms. Sahu's only son, Soumya Sekhar Sahu, was working as an engineer at a Japanese electronics firm in Bengaluru. His wedding was solemnised on February 18, 2018, followed by a reception on February 20. As the family basked in the joy of the celebrations, a parcel arrived at their newly built home on February 23, 2018 — sent by Meher. Believing it to be a wedding gift, Soumya opened the package out of curiosity. It exploded instantly. Soumya and his grandmother were killed in the blast, while his five-day-old wife Rima sustained grievous burn injuries. Since there were no eyewitnesses to the tragic incident and no clues about who had sent the parcel, the Balangir district police investigation hit a dead end. However, when the Crime Branch of the Odisha Police took over, the case began to take a new direction. 'It was a blind case. We began the investigation based solely on circumstantial evidence — which, at the time, was virtually non-existent. The turning point came when a cryptic letter was sent to the Balangir Superintendent of Police, seemingly intended to mislead the investigation. But the letter, written in polished English, pointed us toward Meher,' said senior IPS officer Arun Bothra, who was leading the probe. 'Later, we collected scientific evidence and corroborated it through forensic analysis. During questioning, Meher himself admitted he had never imagined he would be caught. He had executed the murder plot with every possible precaution,' Mr. Bothra added. The convict had learned to make bombs by watching YouTube videos and began collecting explosives from firecrackers purchased during Deepavali in 2017. Chitta Ranjan Kanungo, public prosecutor, said it was an extremely challenging trial, and the Crime Branch of the State Police had painstakingly gathered evidence that withstood judicial scrutiny. The parents of the deceased expressed satisfaction that the convict had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
New Indian Express
6 days ago
- New Indian Express
Parcel bomb sent as wedding gift to avenge college rivalry in Odisha; mastermind Punjilal Meher sentenced to life
BHUBANESWAR: In a major success for Odisha Police, a court in Balangir on Wednesday convicted Punjilal Meher, the mastermind of the sensational Patnagarh parcel bomb case, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The court of the Additional District Judge had recently completed the trial in the case, nearly seven years after the shocking incident that killed software engineer Soumya Sekhar Sahu and his maternal grandmother Jemamani Sahu. 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 23 February 2018, when a wedding gift was delivered to the residence of 26-year-old software engineer Soumya, just days after his marriage. When opened, the box exploded, killing Soumya and Jemamani. Soumya's wife, Reema Sahu, was critically injured. 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. Following a meticulous investigation and evidence gathering, the Crime Branch traced the case back to Meher, a lecturer at Jyoti Vikash College.
Indian Express
7 days ago
- Indian Express
A wedding, a parcel bomb and an English professor's revenge – 7 years later, case that captivated Odisha ends in conviction
A court in Odisha's Bolangir district Wednesday convicted Punjilal Meher, the lone accused in the 2018 Patnagarh parcel bomb case that killed two people, including a 26-year-old newly-wed man. Meher, then a lecturer in a local college, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. The ruling, in what was India's first parcel bomb case, came seven years after Meher allegedly sent a bomb to the victim in the form of a wedding gift. The court of the additional district judge (ADJ) also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Meher, who was present at the time of the ruling. Sanjukta Sahu, the mother of Soumya Sekhar Sahu — a software engineer by profession who had just been married — said she was satisfied with the court ruling, although she added that she could not get back what she lost. Soumya's 85-year-old great aunt, Jenamani, was also killed in the explosion, while his wife, Reema, sustained severe injuries. '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, told the media outside the court. The case On February 23, 2018 — five days into his marriage – Soumya was killed after a parcel he had just received as a gift exploded. According to investigators, the crime was planned and executed meticulously. While the police initially investigated it, the probe was taken over by the Odisha Crime Branch. Over 100 suspects were questioned, with the investigators eventually arresting Meher, a colleague of Soumya's mother Sanjukta. According to police sources, Meher allegedly planned the crime after Sanjukta replaced him as the principal of Jyoti Vikas College in Bhainsa. In its chargesheet, the Crime Branch named Meher as the lone accused and said that the crime was an act of 'revenge'. According to Soumya's family, the accused had attended both the wedding and the funeral of the victim. Meher, an English lecturer, had allegedly begun to collect firecrackers from Diwali the previous year, hoarding gunpowder used in the crackers and using the internet to learn how to assemble bombs, making some test explosives first before he made the final product. The bomb he made was then put in a cardboard box and gift-wrapped. Days before the explosion, Punjilal attended college and returned home to collect the parcel. He took it to Kantabanji, where he boarded a train to Raipur, Chhattisgarh, around 250 km from Patnagarh town. In Raipur, the accused allegedly looked for courier services that were in basements and that had no CCTVs, telling them that the parcel had 'gift articles'. To hide his identity, he put the sender's name down as S K Sharma and also gave an incorrect address. Then, he took an evening train back home, police sources had said. The 'gift' parcel reached Patnagarh on February 20 and was delivered to Soumya's residence three days later. To further mislead investigators, the accused sent an anonymous letter to the then Bolangir Superintendent of Police saying three people were involved in the 'project' – the blast – and that the reason for it was 'his (Soumya's) betrayal' that led to several people losing their lives and money. The letter also asked the police to 'stop harassing innocent people'. It was this letter – allegedly aimed at derailing police investigation – that helped the Crime Branch crack the case. According to investigators, this was 'a special case as there was no evidence at all when the Crime Branch took up the investigation'. 'All evidence was circumstantial and there were no eyewitnesses,' senior IPS officer Arun Bothra, who led the investigation, told reporters. 'We are satisfied that we took it to conviction from a blind case, and justice is served to the family.' While the letter sent to the Bolangir SP was meant to 'deceive' the investigation agency, the accused had left 'many clues in the letter', Bothra said. '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. The agency's chargesheet in August 2018 included statements of as many as 72 witnesses. Among their list of evidence was the letter and receipt books of the parking lot at Kantabanji railway station. Also seized were mobile phones, a laptop, pen drives, hard disks and CCTV footage of a courier service in Raipur.
