Odisha police arrest lecturer for sending parcel-bomb masked as wedding gift

The state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) termed the incident as "lone-wolf crime".

The accused Punjinal Meher has been sent to a six-day judicial custody by CID for further questioning.

Odisha Director General of police, RP Sharma, has been quoted by Hindustan Times : "It’s well established that Punjilal masterminded and executed the crime almost single-handedly. He himself made the bomb."

The bomb was sent by Meher from Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, through courier. However, Meher did not go to the courier office by himself but employed an auto driver for the activity.

Days after wedding, Soumya Sekhar Sahu (26) opened the parcel at his home in Bolangir's Patnagar town and the bomb exploded. While Sahu and his aunt had died, Sahu's wife Reema (22) was in hospital for more than a month to heel the fatal injuries.

Sahu was married just five days when the incident occurred.

The police said Meher, who teaches at Jytoi Vikas College in western Odisha's Patnagarh town in Bolangir district, was angry upon Sahu's mother Sanjukta who replaced the accused as the principal.

Reportedly, Meher had gone through several videos of bomb-making on Youtube and later deleted his search history.

He had also bought fire crackers in Diwali last year to experiment the bomb-making.

Police officers referred to Meher as "clever" as he did not use any of his associates in the crime.

Rubbishing the allegations, Meher's wife, Soudamini, took on CID saying it is framing her husband in the crime to hide its failures to catch the real culprit.