A court on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to four extremist collaborators for their involvement in 2008 serial blasts in Agartala. Around 100 people, many of them women, were injured in the bombings in four crowded places on evening of October 1.
The attacks on eve of Durga Puja – biggest annual festival of the state – created huge panic in Agartala and elsewhere of the state. Three bombs were later recovered in separate places of the city and defused preventing further casualties.
Despite initial confusion CID of state police cracked the case and found evidence to link outlawed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF). Police had chargesheeted seven men for carrying out the bombings in connivance with the extremists.
The trial took over six years to complete and the designated judge earlier freed three accused from charges for want of evidence. West Tripura Additional District Judge S.B. Dutta on Tuesday sentenced four men to life under different IPC sections including Explosive Substance Act.
Counsels representing Bikash Debbarma, Kumaria Debbarma, Sachindra Debbarma and Dinesh Debbarma said they would appeal in the High Court against the verdict. Two of the convicts however pleaded guilty in the court.
