Bangladesh 'hands over' Ulfa leader Anup Chetia to India
He was freed on completion of jail term and expression of interest to leave Bangladesh, says home minister
File photo of Anup Chetia, second from the right with pink shirt.
Star Online Report
In a major boost to bilateral security cooperation, Bangladesh today
handed over to India Anup Chetia, leader of India’s top insurgent group
United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa), 18 years into his arrest in
Dhaka for trespassing.
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal denied it primarily,
saying he was not aware of any such development. But around one and half
hours later, he said the government “freed” Chetia on completion of his
detention order.
“Anup Chetia was detained under the law of the country and his jail
term was completed. As he is a foreigner and expressed his interest to
leave the country, we have freed him,” the minister told reporters at a
programme organised to mark annual Fire Service and Civil Defence Week
in Mirpur in the capital. READ MORE: India may swap Subrata Bain, Sajjad for Anup Chetia
Chetia, who was in Bangladesh since his arrest in Mohammadpur area of
Dhaka on December 21, 1997, was handed over to a team of India’s
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at the personal intervention of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and through active involvement of India’s
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, reports our New Delhi
correspondent.
The hand over took place this morning, according to highly-placed sources.
Meanwhile, the home minister, talking to the reports at the
secretariat, said the members of Border Guard Bangladesh handed Anup and
his two prison mates– Babul Sharma and Shakti Prashad who were arrested
with Anup —to the members of Border Security Force of India.
However, he did not elaborate on the issue.
He further said they have been handed over after communicating with Indian embassy in Bangladesh.
The development follows the deportation to India of underworld don
Chhota Rajan, one of country's most-wanted persons who was on the run
for 27 years, by Indonesia.
Chetia, one of the founding members of Ulfa and its general secretary, is wanted for murder, abductions and extortion in India.
He had sought political asylum in Bangladesh thrice in 2005, 2008 and
in 2011 after Bangladesh police arrested him in December, 1997 and was
subsequently handed down seven years of jail terms by two courts for
cross-border intrusion, carrying fake passports and illegally keeping
foreign currencies.
Despite the expiry of his prison term, Chetia was in jail under a
2003 Bangladesh High Court directive asking authorities to keep him in
safe custody until a decision was taken regarding his asylum plea.
India had been pressing Bangladesh for deportation of Chetia for several years.
The Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Pankaj Saran was in Delhi for
the last two days as details of the handover were being worked out,
sources said.
Earlier, Bangladesh had handed over some other top leaders, including
Arabinda Rajkhowa, on December 2, 2009 along the border with
northeastern Indian state of Assam. They have joined peace talks with
the Indian government.
Another top Ulfa leader Paresh Barua, who heads the insurgent
outfit’s armed wing, remains on the run and is believed to have taken
shelter in Myanmar.