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<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-29083a6acbe6bea8dae0ad9ad43f0555 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#281d1d;font-size:14px"><strong>In Feb. 2018 a newlywed groom in Odisha, India, was killed five days after his wedding, bye blast of a parcel bomb sent to his home disguised as wedding present </strong> </p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-399b29b09d8e9ef05751b7e864b384fd wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#281d1d;font-size:14px"><strong>The groom, Soumya Sekhar Sahu, 26, opened the parcel with his new wife Reema, 22, but the explosion killed him and his 85-year-old great aunt </strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0709e344027c2fd7d7c9613fcbdff9c1 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#281d1d;font-size:14px"><strong>Reema was critically wounded but survived with serious burns, a punctured eardrum, and trauma</strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e03552a0691f7bd30d0e9516d092c18d wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#281d1d;font-size:14px"><strong><strong>Former local school principal Punjilal Meher, was convicted for murder, attempted murder, and use of explosives seven years after the horrific fatal explosion </strong></strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-733dddecf475d429aaa436a3895b3084 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#281d1d;font-size:14px"><strong>Meher, 56, has been sentenced to life in prison, 7 years after the bomb assassination that happened in the <strong>Bolangir district of Odisha in eastern India</strong></strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9478bd34fdeeb20d8489dbd027215559 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#281d1d;font-size:14px"><strong>Groom&#8217;s mother recognized <strong>Punjilal Meher&#8217;s</strong> writing style and phraseology from anonymous note he sent to police </strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-59d9b18c5a6512f1fee584f302b7d045 wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#281d1d;font-size:14px"><strong>Meher,<strong> a co-worker of the groom&#8217;s mother was motivated by a work place rivalry &#8211; she had replaced him as the school principal </strong></strong></p>



<p class="has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-13e292cfb6c2e5c7c551e1afef0fd52a wp-block-paragraph" style="color:#281d1d;font-size:14px"><strong><strong>Meher initially claimed he&#8217;d been forced to deliver the letter under threat, but later allegedly confessed that he built the bomb and mailed it from another state using a courier</strong></strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Soumya-Sekhar-Sahu-and-his-bride-Reema-at-their-wedding-in-2018.png" alt="" class="wp-image-479454" style="width:804px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Soumya Sekhar Sahu, 26, was killed by a bomb just five days after his wedding. His wife Reema, then 22, was critically wounded. She survived with serious burns, a punctured eardrum, and trauma</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A newlywed man was killed when a parcel bomb disguised as a wedding present was delivered to his home in the south of the eastern Indian state of Odisha, in February 2018.<br>Soumya Sekhar Sahu, a 26-year-old software engineer, opened the parcel with his new wife Reema but the explosion killed him and his great aunt, just five days after the wedding in India. <br>Reema, who was then 22 years old, though critically, injured, survived with serious burns, a punctured eardrum, and extensive trauma.<br>Seven years after the fatal bomb blast, Punjilal Meher, a 56-year-old former school principal, arrested for sending the deadly home made device, has been found guilty of murder, attempted murder, and the use of explosives.<br>Soumya and Reema was making lunch when a parcel addressed to the new husband arrived at their home in Patnagarh, a quiet town near the Bolangir district of Odisha in eastern India. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Punjilal-Meher-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-479456"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Punjilal Meher, [photo], is sentenced to life following his conviction for murder, attempted murder, and use of explosives. A co-worker of the groom&#8217;s mother at a local school he was motivated by a work place rivalry</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The package, which appeared to look like a wedding present, purportedly had been sent from Raipur in Chattisgarh state, over 142 miles away in Raipur in Chattisgarh state. Soumya pulled a thread on the 2kg delivery expecting that he was unwrapping a preset, instead an explosion ripped through their home. Sahu and his 85-year-old great-aunt Jemamani Sahu, were both killed in the blast, while newly wed bride Reema suffered devastating injuries.<br>A length police investigation led to the arrest of Punjilal Meher who was a teacher at a local school., where the groom&#8217;s mother was also on the academic staff.<br>Police said the suspect acted on a spillover grudge from work place rivalry with his co-worker. Soumya&#8217;s mother had replaced then 49-year-old Meher as the principal at the school. <br>Ultimately his anger led to the dastardly attack on his rival&#8217;s offspring.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Bomb-blast-damage-at-Soumya-Sekhar-Sahu-and-Reema-home-5-days-after-their-wedding-in-2018-1024x611.png" alt="" class="wp-image-479459"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Destruction caused by the parcel bomb to the couple&#8217;s home, in Patnagarh, a town near the Bolangir district of Odisha in eastern India. </strong></p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Soumya-Sekhar-Sahu-and-his-bride-Reema-at-their-wedding-in-2018-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-479465" style="width:840px;height:auto"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Soumya Sahu, [left], and his 85-year-old great-aunt Jemamani Sahu were killed, while Reema [right], though critically injured, survived</strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Meher sent the homemade bomb from Raipur, a town of in another state. He used a courier service that did not scan packages or use CCTV. The deadly parcel even had a fake name on it, &#8216;SK Sharma from Raipur&#8217;.<br>Police initially hit a dead end in their investigation but the cold case kicked back to life in April after the local cop chief received an anonymous letter. <br>The note claimed three men had &#8220;undertaken the project&#8221; and were now &#8220;beyond police reach&#8221;. It went further to cite the groom&#8217;s &#8220;betrayal&#8221; and money, while hinting at a scorned lover or property dispute, as motives. The letter even instructed police to stop harassing innocents.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Bomb-blast-damage-at-Soumya-Sekhar-Sahu-and-Reema-home-5-days-after-their-wedding-2-1024x558.png" alt="" class="wp-image-479462"/></figure>



<p class="has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph"><strong>To throw off the scent the homemade bomb was sent from another state in India, but the local police chief received an anonymous letter in April, with indepth knowledge about the bombing, but Soumya&#8217;s mom recognized the writing </strong></p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The letter also claimed three men were involved and investigators had misread &#8220;Sharma&#8221; and it was actually &#8220;Sinha&#8221;. The last point was crucially to the investigation as the letter writer seemed to know this &#8211; something only the sender could have known. Authorities concluded that the anonymous tipper had sent the first note..<br>Shown the note, Soumya&#8217;s mother The victim&#8217;s mother, a college teacher, recognized the style of the letter and phraseology as that of a colleague, Meher, a former principal she had replaced.<br>Police had previously dismissed Meher&#8217;s workplace rivalry as routine academic politics. Now he became the prime suspect.<br>When interviewed by investigators, Meher initially offered an implausible story about being forced to deliver the letter under threat, but later allegedly confessed that he had hoarded firecrackers during Diwali, extracted gunpowder, built the bomb, and mailed it from Raipur using a courier.<br>He allegedly left his phone at home to create an alibi and avoided CCTV by not buying a train ticket. Meher had even attended both the victim&#8217;s wedding and funeral.<br></p>

Teacher, 56, sentenced to life in prison 7 years after killing newlywed groom and his aunt with parcel bomb, disguised as wedding present, 5 days after victim’s wedding
