Mystery shrouds ULFA chief arrest

New Delhi, Dec 3 : United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who was reportedly arrested in Bangladesh on Wednesday, has been flown in to the national capital, some reports said on Thursday.

However, others claimed he is still being held in Bangladesh.

Acording to a BBC Bangla Service report, Rajkhowa was arrested in Dhaka on Monday. But Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star claimed all top police departments including the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Detective Branch (DB) and Special Branch (SB) denied any such arrest.

Indian media reports, citing home ministry sources, have been claiming that the ULFA leader has already been flown to Delhi.

Times Now aired reports since Thursday morning saying the ULFA chief has been flown to Delhi.

He was flown to Delhi after he was handed over to India at the Tripura border on Wednesday by the Bangladesh government, NDTV said.

Speaking to NE TV soon after news of his detention in Bangladesh, the ULFA chairman said, 'People who are claiming that he was arrested are trying to derail the peace process in Assam even before it can begin. Such people do not want the peace process to succeed,' NDTV reported.

Additional Inspector General of Police NBK Tripura, Rab Director General Hassan Mahmood Khandker, DMP Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque, Special Superintendent Meer Shahidul Islam of CID and SS Mahbubur Rahman of SB have all said they have no information regarding the arrest of the ULFA leader, The Daily Star reported.