Bangladesh HC Reduces Paresh Baruah’s Death Sentence to Life in Arms Smuggling Case

The Bangladesh High Court reduced ULFA leader Paresh Baruah’s death sentence to life imprisonment in the 2004 Chattogram arms smuggling case. Former junior minister Lutfuzzaman Babar and five others were acquitted.

Baruah, convicted in absentia in 2014, remains a fugitive and on India’s NIA’s ‘most wanted’ list. The case involved the seizure of 10 truckloads of weapons reportedly bound for ULFA hideouts.

The court also overturned death sentences for high-profile accused, including a former intelligence chief. Delayed investigations and political interference initially stalled the case, which was revived in 2008 under a military-backed regime.