'Wedding bomb' murderer gets life sentence in India

A former college principal in the eastern Indian state of Odisha has been sentenced to life in prison for sending a parcel bomb that killed a newlywed man and his great aunt in 2018.

A court found Punjilal Meher, 56, guilty of murder, attempted murder, and use of explosives in what became known as the "wedding bomb" case that stunned India.

The bomb, disguised as a wedding gift, was delivered to the home of Soumya Sekhar Sahu, a 26-year-old software engineer, just days after his wedding.

When the couple opened the package, it exploded - killing Sahu and his great aunt, and leaving his wife, Reema, who opened the package, critically wounded.

While acknowledging the prosecution's argument that it was a "heinous" crime, the court declined to classify it as a "rarest of the rare" case deserving the death penalty.

The BBC covered the incident in a detailed two-part investigative series.

Who sent the wedding gift bomb that killed this newlywed?

A wedding bomb, a letter and an unlikely suspect

The February 2018 explosion took place in Patnagarh, a quiet town in Odisha's Bolangir district.