Court sentences NDFB militant to life imprisonment in 2014 Balapra village attack case

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Bodo militant Rabi Basumatary has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Special NIA Court in Guwahati for killing seven people in an armed attack on Balapra village in Assam's Kokrajhar district in 2014.

The special court sentenced Basumatary, who also goes by the name of Rongjabaja and Rabi, to life imprisonment in two cases and rigorous imprisonment for 10 years for other offences registered under the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the agency said in a statement.

Convicted by the court on March 13, the militant has also been fined in all the cases and would have to undergo additional simple imprisonment in case of failure to pay the same.

All the substantive sentences will run concurrently, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said in the statement.

On May 1, 2014, Basumatary along with six other National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) members entered Balapara village under the Gossaigaon police station's area in Kokrajhar district. They opened indiscriminate fire on the villagers on instructions from the NDFB leadership headed by G Bidai and Songbijit. In the incident, seven villagers were killed and two others seriously injured.

Basumatary was arrested in September 2016 and chargesheeted by the NIA in March 2017 through its first supplementary chargesheet in the case.

The first chargesheet was filed in Gossaigaon (Balapra) against accused Pradip Brahma in August 2015.

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A second supplementary chargesheet was filed in October 2019 against accused Upen Basumatary and a third in January 2021 against five absconding accused persons.

The Special NIA Court had convicted and sentenced Brahma to life imprisonment in July 2016, the spokesperson said.

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