By Bhupen Goswami

GUWAHATI : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against 8 persons for their involvement in the Zoo Road blast case which occurred on November 11 in which three People were killed  and  12 people were injured The blast was orchestrated by the non-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), officials said. They said the accused had allegedly targeted security personnel on duty at the RG Baruah Road near Central Mall at Guwahati. Twelve people were injured in the attack.The NIA investigated the case for five months and concluded that the main accused, Pappu Koch Bokoliyal, is an ULFA (I) terrorist and he lobbed the grenade.The investigation revealed that the accused were also involved in a conspiracy to commit terrorist acts.The NIA has charge sheeted them for criminal conspiracy and indulging in terrorist acts and unlawful activities, waging war against India, illegal possession of arms and ammunition, explosive substances, harbouring of ULFA (I) terrorist, providing support to ULFA (I) terrorists and associating with ULFA (I) terrorists. The eight accused are: Pappu Koch Bokoliyal alias Bijoy Asom alias Anvi alias Rajini (32), of Dibrugarh; Jahnabee Saikia (49) of Kamrup (M); Pranamoy alias Pranmay Rajguru (57) of Sivasagar; Chinmoy Lahkar (25) of Kamrup (M); Indra Mohan Bora (25) of Nagaon; Amrit Ballav Goswami (41) of Golaghat; Sankib Talukdar (26) of Kamrup (R) and Prakash Rajkonwar (63) belonging to Tinsukia district. On May 15, a grenade blast was reported from Guwahati city’s Zoo Road locality near the Guwahati Central mall, one of the busiest localities in the city. Reportedly, Pranamoy Rajguru, a pro-talks ULFA leader, was the mastermind behind the blast, which took months of meticulous planning to execute. Later, ULFA Commander Paresh Baruah took responsibility for the blasts, which injured as many as 11 people, but he expressed his regret after civilians were injured and stated that it was not the intention of the ULFA to hurt innocents.