Top ULFA leaders in Assam Police custody: Gogoi

Guwahati, Nov 07 : Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today confirmed that two of the top leaders of the ULFA, who were 'handed over' by Bangladesh yesterday to Indian security agencies, were in the custody of Assam Police.

ULFA's 'finance secretary' Chitrabon Hazarika and 'foreign secretary' Sasha Choudhury were brought to Guwahati today and kept in a guest house inside the Assam Police's Special Branch headquarters.

''Yes, both of them are in our custody. They are with the Assam Police,'' said a beaming Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Meanwhile, the banned organisation has called for a statewide bandh on Monday demanding release of their leaders.

The ULFA leaders had been ''pushed'' into India from Bangladesh, a bilateral breakthrough that skirts the absence of an extradition treaty.

Both the leaders, picked up from their Dhaka home, were ''pushed'' into India on Wednesday through Gokul Nagar on the Indo-Bangla border in Tripura.

''It was a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) operation where the BSF DG and local commandant was kept in the loop for the last minute logistics,'' said a top official source.

From there they were sent to Agartala and subsequently flown to Silchar where a special flight took them to Guwahati.

The sources said this was the first time militants belonging to any Indian insurgent outfit had been sent back by Bangladesh where they have been finding a safe haven for over two decades now.

Dhaka's effort is being seen as a ''gesture of goodwill'' ahead of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's scheduled visit to India next month.

The sources said the border thrust was the only way to send back the two ULFA leaders as the neighbouring countries did not have an extradition treaty. They cited the instance of ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia who was arrested in Dhaka in 1997 but could not be deported to India in the absence of a treaty.

After the pushback, the two leaders were kept in the Gokul Nagar BSF camp, 20 km south of Agartala town. ''The duo was later taken out of Agartala under security cover today,'' a source said, without naming the destination.

This morning, ULFA chairman Aurobindo Rajkhowa issued an e-mailed statement demanding the release of their leaders as well as their production before the media to confirm their medical status.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
Unauthorised publication of any content from NewKerala.Com is prohibited