A newlywed groom was tragically killed when a parcel disguised as a wedding present was delivered to his home.

Soumya Sekhar Sahu, 26, opened the parcel with his new wife Reema but the explosion killed him and his great aunt, just five days after the in . Reema, who was then 22 years old, was left critically wounded but thankfully survived with serious burns, a punctured eardrum, and trauma. A former principal has been found guilty of , attempted murder, and the use of explosives - seven years after the horrific fatal explosion in 2018.

Soumya and Reema was making lunch when a parcel addressed to the new husband arrived at their home. The package, which appeared to look like a wedding present, had allegedly been sent from over 230km away in Raipur in Chattisgarh state.

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The husband, who lived in Patnagarh - a small town near the Bolangir district of Odisha in eastern India - pulled a thread on the 2kg delivery to open it but an explosion ripped through their home. His 85-year-old great-aunt Jemamani Sahu was also killed in the blast.

A length investigation led to the arrest of Punjilal Meher, 49, who was a teacher at a local college where the groom's mother worked. Cops reportedly said the 49-year-old held a grudge over a work rivalry and planned his attack, according to the .

Meher sent the homemade bomb from Raipur and he used a courier service that did not scan packages or use CCTV. The deadly parcel even had a fake name on it - SK Sharma from Raipur.

Police initially faced dead ends in their investigation but this changed in April after an anonymous letter was sent to the local cop chief. The note claimed the fake name the parcel was sent under had a cryptic message about the groom's money and "betrayal".

The letter also claimed three men were involved and investigators had misread "Sharma" and it was actually "Sinha". After this note, police believed the letter was sent by the suspect, due to the level of knowledge this person had about the bombing.

Soumya's mum recognised the handwriting and style of words used as that of Meher, who she had replaced as principal at a school.

After his arrest, Meher initially told police he was forced to deliver the parcel under threat. Cops said he later confessed to the crime, saying he stockpiled from Diwali and extracted gunpowder from them, then built a bomb with this.

The explosion, known as the "wedding bomb" shocked India and saw Meher's twisted crime eventually unravel. The 49-year-old reportedly left his phone at home to try and come up with an alibi for his story.

He even avoided by not buying a ticket for his train journey and even brazenly attended the victim's wedding and funeral.