The Gauhati High Court on Tuesday upheld the life sentence awarded to former rebel leader Ranjan Daimary and nine others for their involvement in the 2008 serial blast case in Assam.
The serial blasts on October 30, 2008 — the worst terror attack in the state — took place in Guwahati (three blasts), Kokrajhar (three), Barpeta (two) and Bongaigaon (two), leaving 88 dead and over 500 injured.
A special sessions court in 2019 awarded life terms to 10 of the 14 persons convicted in the blast case probed by the CBI, including Daimary, the chairman of the now-disbanded National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
Defence counsel M. Sarania told The Telegraph that they had appealed to the court to set aside the conviction.
“We had filed two appeals — one involving ten of the convicted persons, including Daimary. The court upheld the life sentence of seven persons while acquitting three of them. In the other appeal for four persons, who have served their term ranging up to seven years, the court acquitted one of them,” he said.
Sarania said he was yet to receive the high court order, passed by the division bench of Justice Suman Shyam and Justice Malasri Nandi, but they will appeal to the Supreme Court against the conviction.
Daimary was released on interim bail for four weeks in January 2020 and flown to Delhi to sign the tripartite Bodo peace accord, involving the Centre and the state government, to usher in peace in the Bodo belt.
Born in 1960, Daimary was arrested in Bangladesh in May 2010. Soon after, the faction of the NDFB led by him declared a unilateral ceasefire. He is presently lodged in Guwahati Central Jail.
The CBI had charge-sheeted 22 persons in the case of which 14 were subsequently convicted.
