The Gauhati High Court upholds Ranjan Daimary's life sentence in the 2008 serial blasts case.

• Image Credit: Internet

• Sep 27, 2022 | Sourav Boruah

Digital Desk: The
Gauhati High Court today upheld NDFB Spearhead Ranjan Daimari's life sentence
in the 2008 Assam serial blasts case, which killed more than 88 people and
paralyzed more than 500 others. The explosions occurred in four Assamese
cities: Gauhati, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, and Barpeta. In 2019, a special court
in Gauhati found Daimari guilty of planning the 2008 blasts. Daimari was the
mastermind behind one of Assam's most heinous attacks, which has gone down in
history as one of the state's darkest chapters.

Daimari was on an
on-again, off-again path to prison after being granted bail for four weeks to
participate in the Bodo peace talks in 2020. In April of last year, he and the
other nine convicts petitioned the Gauhati High Court for a suspension of their
sentences, which the top court denied. Following the explosions, the Assam
Police issued red alerts for Daimari, and after a two-year search, he was
apprehended by a team of Bangladesh Rifles in Bangladesh and handed over to
Indian custody.

Daimari was active for
more than two decades until he was apprehended in Bangladesh in 2010. Daimari
established a network of contacts in neighboring countries such as Bangladesh
and Myanmar, and he was supplied with arms and ammunition for his new outfit,
the NDFB. Following Daimari's arrest, the NDFB split into three factions, the
largest of which is led by Govinda Basumatary, who signed a ceasefire agreement
with the Indian government in 2020. The smallest of these three factions
opposes the peace treaty signed by the NDFB and the Indian government and has
camps in Myanmar's northern Saigang division.