Bhubaneswar: The Patnagarh Additional District Judge (ADJ) Court today convicted Punjilal Meher in the sensational parcel bomb blast case of 2018 and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

He was found guilty under Sections 302, 307, and 201 of the IPC, and the Explosive Substances Act. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Punjilal.

"Our submission was that the incident is very alarming to society. The manner in which the offence has been executed by the accused is rarest of rare. However, the court observed that it doesn't appear to be rarest of rare," the public prosecutor said.

"The prosecutor argued in favour of capital punishment, citing some judgements of the Supreme Court. The court, however, viewed that this is not rarest of rare incident," said Punjilal's counsel.

The Odisha Crime Branch had arrested him on April 24, 2018.

Notably, one Reema Rani’s husband Soumya Sekhar and his grandmother Jemamani were killed when a bomb wrapped as a wedding gift exploded while unwrapping the same on February 23, 2018, four days after the couple’s marriage.

As per the police, Punjilal had masterminded the entire episode as a dispute was prevailing between him and deceased Soumya Sekhar's mother Sanjukta.