The Kamrup District and Sessions Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to Ranjan Daimary alias D.R. Nabla, the founder-chief of the militant outfit National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), and prime accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the October 30, 2008, Assam serial blasts case. The nine blasts triggered by the outfit in Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Barpeta Road left about 100 dead and 545 people injured.
Daimary’s counsel advocate Manas Sarania told The Hindu that the militant leader had five more cases — four TADA cases and one Special Operation Unit (SOU), Assam Police case — still pending against him and would be able to come out of the prison only after he was granted bail in the pending five cases.
Double surety
Mr. Sarania said the eight conditions on which Daimary had been granted bail would require him to submit a double surety of Rs. three lakh, debar him from going outside the State, require him to attend court proceedings regularly, debar him from holding public meetings without prior permission from the court and also from campaigning in favour of the NDFB and would have to refrain from making any speech or statements that antagonised people.
Daimary (54), who is currently lodged in Guwahati Central Jail, was handed over to India by Bangladesh on May 1, 2010, following which he was arrested. The CBI filed the chargesheet in the serial blasts case on May 25, 2009 ,and named 22 people. Of them, 14, including Daimary, are lodged in jail.
Daimary had been president of the NDFB since its inception on October 3, 1986. The outfit was originally known as the Boro Security Force and re-christened the NDFB in 1993. However, the NDFB general assembly on December 15, 2008, replaced him with B. Sungthagra (alias Dhiren Boro). But, 12 days after his removal, Daimary claimed that he was still president.
On January 1, 2009, the NDFB expelled Daimary for his alleged involvement in the October 30, 2008, blasts. This split the outfit into two, with one faction led by Sungthagra known as the NDFB (ceasefire) and the other as the NDFB (Ranjan Daimary).
The Bodo National Conference (BNC), a banner organisation of Bodo political and non-political groups headed by Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Chief Hagrama Mahilari, has been demanding that the government should facilitate the release of Ranjan Daimary as it did in case of jailed leaders of the militant United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to create a conducive atmosphere for peace talks with the NDFB faction headed by Daimary.
