Ranjan Daimary among 15 convicted in Assam serial blast case

Guwahati, Jan 28 (IANS) A Special CBI judge here on Monday convicted 15 people, including National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) chairman Ranjan Daimary, in the October 30, 2008 serial blasts across Assam, saying the quantum of punishment would be pronounced on Wednesday.

Daimary was the main accused in the serial blasts that left over 88 dead and 540 injured. The blasts had ripped through Guwahati's Ganeshguri, Panbazar and Kachari areas and also struck Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon almost simultaneously.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had filed a charge-sheet against 22 people, including the NDFB chief in 2009. The charge-sheet also named 650 witnesses and listed 682 documents, including post-mortem reports, confessional statements of those apprehended and details of calls made by some of the accused.

According to the prosecution, there were nine blasts in which 53 were killed in the three blasts in Guwahati, 20 in the three blasts in Kokrajhar and 15 in Barpeta Road. There were no casualties in the Bongaigaon blast.

Daimary was later arrested in Bangladesh and handed over to Indian authorities in May 2010.

Daimary, also known as D.R. Nabla, formed the Boro Security Force in October 3, 1986 and later changed its name to to NDFB. Although the outfit entered a ceasefire agreement with the Indian government in 2005, it often flouted the truce.

The outfit split in 2008 after the investigating agencies named Daimary as the main mastermind behind the serial blasts. The outfit also suspended Daimary, who led another faction called NDFB (Ranjan).

Although a total of 14 cases were registered against Daimary in the serial blasts, he was granted bail in 2013 after the CBI submitted a no objection to his conditional bail considering the fact that he was taking part in peace talks with the government.