A slipper lies at the site of the blasts (PTI)

Guwahati, Oct. 29: As on previous occasions when they had information about impending attacks but couldn’t build on it, city police got wind of Ulfa’s plans to terrorise Guwahati on Chhath Puja but failed to prevent the twin blasts that killed a teenaged boy and wounded several people.

A police official today admitted that two arrested Ulfa conduits had disclosed the militant group’s plans to attack revellers during the festival. The duo, Achyut Talukdar of Mukalmua and Nripen Barman of Barama, were arrested in different parts of the city a few days ago.

“They told interrogators that Ulfa had big plans for Chhath Puja. But we could not foil the attack because we did not have information about where they would strike and exactly when,” the official said. Senior superintendent of police (city) Nitul Gogoi confirmed that yesterday evening’s blasts at Soonsali were the handiwork of Ulfa militants. A 13-year-old boy, Krishna Mukhiya, died and 12 people were wounded when back-to-back explosions rocked the bank of the Brahmaputra at Soonsali just when Chhath Puja celebrations were peaking.

Dispur legislator Akon Bora was part of a Chhath Puja gathering in the same area barely 15 minutes before the blasts.

The victim in the Ulfa attack was the son of Ramdev Mukhiya, a resident of Bamunimaidam Railway Colony.

As another debate began over the efficacy of security arrangements in the city, police sources revealed that a vacuum was created in the Chandmari police division — Soonsali is under its jurisdiction — when Dispur recently transferred a deputy superintendent of police.

The home department replaced DSP Ataur Rahman in the Chandmari division with the DSP (headquarters) of Darrang district, Susanta Biswa Sarma. However, Sarma has yet to take charge while Rahman is on leave.

“When the twin blasts jolted Soonsali, no senior official was in charge of the Chandmari police division. This could be interpreted as a serious lapse,” a source said.

Sarma, the younger brother of health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, had been the DSP of Chandmari police division before being transferred to Darrang district before the Assembly elections.

He is reportedly the first officer to be reinstated by the government in the same post from which he had been transferred before the polls.