In a case that shocked the nation, a former college principal in India has been sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating a deadly parcel bomb attack that killed a newlywed groom and his elderly great-aunt, and severely injured the bride.
A court in Odisha found 56-year-old Punjilal Meher guilty of murder, attempted murder, and using explosives in connection with the 2018 “wedding bomb” case — a calculated act of revenge disguised as a gift.
The attack took place just five days after Soumya Sekhar Sahu, a 26-year-old software engineer, tied the knot in Patnagarh, a quiet town in Odisha’s Bolangir district. A parcel, appearing to be a congratulatory wedding gift, arrived at the couple’s home. When Soumya pulled the thread to open it, the bomb inside exploded with devastating force — killing him and his 85-year-old great-aunt Jemamani Sahu on the spot and leaving his wife, Reema, critically wounded.
The court acknowledged the brutality of the crime but stopped short of awarding the death penalty, deeming it not a “rarest of the rare” case under Indian law.
For months, investigators had little to go on. The parcel appeared to have been mailed from Raipur, more than 230 km away, using a courier service that lacked CCTV surveillance and package scanning. The bomb, crudely made but deadly, had traveled over 650 km before reaching the victims’ doorstep.
A major breakthrough came when an anonymous letter arrived at the police station, offering cryptic details that only the perpetrator could have known — including the corrected spelling of the fake sender’s name and hints about a supposed betrayal and financial motives. The handwriting and language struck a chord with the victim’s mother, who recognized it as eerily similar to that of Punjilal Meher, a former college principal and her professional rival.
What initially appeared as academic rivalry was soon revealed to be a deep-seated grudge. Investigators allege Meher confessed to constructing the bomb from firecrackers hoarded during Diwali. He used a false name and address to send the package, traveled to Raipur avoiding surveillance, and returned home without his phone to create a digital alibi.
In a cruel twist, Meher had attended both the wedding and the funeral of his victims, maintaining a facade of normalcy while hiding a deadly secret.
The verdict closes a dark chapter in one of India’s most disturbing modern murder cases, remembered for its tragic loss of life, twisted motive, and the sinister disguise of a gift meant to celebrate love.