A special CBI court on Tuesday acquitted three former ULFA leaders accused in the attacks on former Assam Chief Minister Bhumidhar Barman due to lack of evidence against them.

Former ULFA commander Heera Sarania, deputy commander Raju Baruah, and Ajit Nath were accused of premeditating and executing an attack on Bhumindhar Barman's life in Assam's Nalbari. The CBI case had been lodged in 2006 over the attack.

Bhumidhar Barman, who served as the Chief Minister of Assam in 1996, survived three attacks on his life by the banned outfit ULFA. The first attack was in the year 1986 in Nalbari in front of the Belsor police station. The second attempt on his life was on January 20, 1990, while he was unfurling the tricolour at his Belsor residence. The ULFA tried a third time to assassinate him on December 30, 1995, at Laupara village under the Barkhetry assembly constituency in the Nalbari district.

Bringing an end to the long-drawn case, the CBI's third bench today acquitted the three former ULFA top brass in the case number 50/2006. Notably, the court took the statements of 50 witnesses, with another 16 having passed away.

Born on October 12, 1931 in Belsor, Bhumidhar Barman joined the Congress and was first elected to the Assam Assembly in 1967 from Nalbari West constituency. He was subsequently elected from the Dharmapur and Barkhetry constituencies. Barman served as a cabinet minister under three chief ministers of Assam — Sarat Chandra Singha, Hiteswar Saikia, and Tarun Gogoi — and succeeded Saikia as the Chief Minister for a brief period of 22 days between April and May of 1996. He passed away in 2021 aged 89 years.

In January 1996, the ULFA had claimed responsibility for the December 30 attack on Barman. While he escaped unharmed, three others lost their lives. The ULFA released a statement cautioning the government that any retaliatory action would lead to further consequences.