Patnagarh: The Crime Branch on Thursday submitted in court the final chargesheet in the sensational Patnagarh wedding gift blast in which two persons, including the groom were killed on February 23 last year.
The 65-page charge sheet was submitted at the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate court at Patnagarh in Bolangir district. The Crime Branch has included statement of 76 witnesses and eyewitnesses along with the scientific and forensic reports.
Earlier in August, 2018, the investigating agency had submitted the 300-page preliminary charge sheet containing the statement of 72 witness and eyewitnesses in the case. The chargesheet had accused Punjilal Meher, an English lecturer at Jyoti Vikas College where the victim Soumya Sekhar’s mother Sanjukta Sahu is the Principal. The Crime Branch probe revealed that Meher had sent the parcel bomb to the house of Sanjukta to eliminate her family members to take revenge.
The blast had taken place when the groom Soumya Sekhar Sahu opened a gift pack five days after his marriage and he was among the two who were killed in it.
Meher was accused of planning and executing the blast that killed Sanjukta’s newlywed son Soumya Sekhar and mother-in-law Jemamani on February 23. Soumya’s wife Reema also sustained burn injuries in the blast.
Reema too had sustained burn injuries in the blast. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ordered a Crime Branch probe following a request from Reema. The Crime Branch took over the investigation on March 23 and arrested Meher on April 26. He is currently lodged in the Patnagarh sub-jail.
