Bhubaneswar: A crime branch team is in Raipur to gather evidence against the Patnagarh parcel bomb case accused Punjilal Meher. The bomb had come in the form of a wedding gift and had killed the newlywed groom, Soumyasekhar.

The decision to send the team to Raipur was taken after the inspector-general, crime branch, Arun Bothra, met director-general of police (DGP) R.P. Sharma in Bhubaneswar and discussed the progress of the investigation.

Sharma said: "Three crime branch teams are working in various places to gather information. One of the teams is in Raipur. The crime branch has collected several important facts that have come up during interrogation. Now, efforts are on for scientific investigation and collection of evidence."

The DGP said: "We are planning to retrieve the data from the hard disk of the courier. He had gone to the courier to send the parcel. But he did not send it from there. If we are able to retrieve the data, it will act as clinching evidence in the case," an official said adding that police were planning to send the hard disk to Israel to retrieve the data.

Much of the data of the hard disk of the courier has been deleted. The data is deleted once every fortnight. Only an expert team can retrieve it.

Sharma said: "We are also examining the CCTV feed of several banks and other commercial centres located in the area. As he had gone on that route in an open cycle rickshaw, we hope to get some data." Sources said the police were also planning to give a cash award if the autorickshaw driver came forward to record his statement.

"The autorickshaw driver's statement would be vital in awarding punishment to the accused. All efforts are on to track the autorickshaw driver. We are also in touch with the Chhattisgarh police in this regard," said the official.

The police have already made it clear that past enmity between colleagues Punjilal Meher and Sanjukta Sahu, the latter being the deceased groom's mother, was the reason behind the blast. Meher, who taught English at Jyoti Bikash College, Bhainsa, in Balangir, was upset over Sanjukta being appointed the principal of the college.

In order to mislead the investigation, he had also sent a letter to the Balangir police superintendent suggesting that love-related rivalry was the main reason behind the murder. This letter helped the police crack the case.

The deadly parcel that had landed at the Patnagarh residence of Soumya Shekhar from Raipur by courier, had killed him and his grandmother, Jemamani, while they were unwrapping the wedding gifts. Soumya's wife Reemarani had been critically injured and admitted to the plastic surgery ward of SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. She was released from the hospital a few days ago.