Bhubaneswar, May 28 The additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) court in Patnagarh, Balangir district of Odisha, on Wednesday pronounced the judgment in the sensational parcel bomb case in which a newlywed software engineer, Soumya Sekhar Sahu and his 85-year-old great-aunt, Jemamani Sahu died on February 23, 2018.
The 26-year-old Soumya Sekhar’s wife, Reema Sahu, 22, also sustained grievous injuries in the blast that shook the whole state as well as the country in 2018.
As per the victims’ lawyer Chittaranjan Kanungo, the accused Punjilal Meher was awarded life imprisonment by the court, finding him guilty under sections 302 of the IPC and 3 of the Explosive Substances Act.
The convict Meher has also been asked to pay a cumulative fine of Rs 1.70 lakh under various sections of the IPC.
“After seven long years of legal fight, the victims’ family finally got justice. Though the court accepted the incident as heinous, it observed that all heinous offences cannot be termed as rarest of rare crimes. However, the quantum of punishment given by the court is very encouraging, and it gives a good message to the society at large,” Kanungo said.
On the other hand, the family members of the victim said that they were expecting capital punishment for the convict, but the court awarded him life imprisonment.
Victim Soumya Sekhar’s father said that they will hold discussions to decide whether to move to a higher court seeking capital punishment or not.
It is worth noting that the fatal incident occurred just five days after the marriage function of Soumya Sekhar and Reema at Patnagarh town of Balangir district on February 23, 2018.
The investigating team, led by the then Inspector General of Crime Branch, Arun Bothra, cracked the case following a meticulous investigation and arrested the accused, Meher, a lecturer at Jyoti Vikas College in Patnagarh area, in April 2018.
The police later revealed that the accused, Meher, committed the crime over his past enmity with Soumya Sekhar’s mother, Sanjukta Sahu, who replaced him as the principal of the educational institute.
The parcel containing a bomb sent from Chhattisgarh’s capital, Raipur, through courier exploded when Soumya Sekhar opened it in his home at Patnagarh town on February 23, 2018.
The shrewd Meher had reportedly taken all the possible steps to erase evidence regarding the crime. However, an anonymous letter in the English language was sent to the Superintendent of Police, Balangir district, by the accused to mislead the investigation, which in turn led to his arrest.
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