ULFA leader Anup Chetia handed over to India

A top-ranking Assamese separatist leader has been handed over to India by Bangladesh, top Indian officials have said.

According to the officials, Golap Barua alias Anup Chetia, former 'general secretary' of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), was handed over to Indian custody early on Wednesday.

Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, after initially denying knowledge of the handover, said Chetia's handover had been brought about through legal means following the end of his sentence in a Bangladesh prison.

However, it was not clear where the handover had taken place and how Chetia would be brought to justice in India.
 
For their part, senior Indian home ministry officials said Chetia would be taken to Delhi for questioning but after that may be handed over to Assam police since he has cases against him in the north-eastern state.
 
An Indian intelligence official hinted that Chetia was flown to Delhi, but he provided no details.
 
A report by the Press Trust of India said Chetia was handed over after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally intervened in the matter with the Bangladesh government.
 
Chetia had been in jail in Bangladesh for the last 18 years.
 
He was arrested on Dec 21, 1997 and booked under the Foreigners Act and the Passports Act for illegally carrying foreign currencies and a satellite phone.
 
He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment by a Bangladeshi court and was being held at Kashimpur Jailon the outskirts of Dhaka.
 
Chetia's handover is being closely watched by the ULFA, which is now a divided house.
 
Both the Arabinda Rajkhowa faction, which is now negotiating with the Indian government, and the Paresh Barua faction, which has continued a separatist campaign, will likely try to draw Chetia into their fold.
 
Chetia, one of the founders of the ULFA, which was created in April 1979 and advocated an armed movement for Assam's secession from India, is a cousin of the hardliner ULFA military wing chief Paresh Barua.

In Bangladesh, Chetia was kept in jail after the completion of his prison term in the light of a Bangladesh High Court directive in August 2003 to keep him in safe custody until the government made a decision on his plea seeking political asylum in Bangladesh.
 
Chetia had sought political asylum in Bangladesh thrice, in 2005, 2008 and 2011.
 
ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has told journalists that Chetia should be included in the talks between the Centre and ULFA in Delhi.
 
The Indian government has been expediting its negotiations with the Rajkhowa faction of ULFA ahead of the Assam assembly elections early next year.