Ulfa general secretary Anup Chetia, who had been extradited from Bangladesh last month, on Thursday walked free from the Guwahati Central Jail after the Gauhati High Court granted him bail in a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The court has, however, asked him not to leave the country without prior permission and to cooperate the investigation process. The High court has also asked Chetia to present him before the court on December 28 this year.
Chetia is likely to reach his native home in Jeraigaon village in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district tonight. Chetia’s colleague like Sashadhar Choudhury, Raju Baruah and others-who have been negotiating peace with the government of India since 2010-whisked him away to an undisclosed location soon after his release from the jail
on Thursday.
There were several cases registered against the Ulfa general secretary soon after his extradition from Bangladesh on November 11 this year. While the Court here had already granted bail to Chetia in three cases earlier, the
Ulfa leader was granted bail on Thursday regarding a case filed by the CBI.
The CBI, which first grilled Chetia upon his arrival in New Delhi on November 11 over a murder case that took place in Assam’s Golaghat district in 1988, yesterday submitted a no objection petition before the court paving the way for release of Chetia.
“There is a need for a unified democratic struggle to secure the identity of different tribes and communities of Assam. So in the forthcoming times, I look forward to contribute towards the struggle in consultation with leaders of these communities and other organizations. I have spent more than half of my life for Assam and its people and I hope to spend the rest of my life while working for socio-cultural development, peace, unity and betterment of the greater Assamese society,” Chetia told waiting media after coming out of the jail and before being whisked away by his colleagues.
It may be mentioned here that Chetia along with late Bhimkanta Buragohain, Rajiv Rajkonwar alias Arabinda Rajkhowa, Samiran Gogoi alias Pradip Gogoi, Bhadreswar Gohain and Paresh Baruah formed Ulfa at the historical Rangghar in Sivsagar district of Assam on April 7, 1979.
It may be mentioned here that Chetia and elusive commander-in-chief of the outfit Paresh Baruah, who alone is leading the anti-talk faction of the outfit now, are cousins and are neighbours in the village.
Chetia was arrested from a residence at Mohhamadpur area near Dhaka on December 21, 1997 for entering the country on fake documents, illegal possession of foreign currency, possession of arms and a satellite phone and subsequently sentenced to four, three and seven years of imprisonment by a court in the country.
Although Chetia had completed his jail term on 2007, he was kept in protective custody by the Bangladesh government. Although Chetia tried to seek asylum in Bangladesh and or any other country till 2008, he seemed to have left the idea later and was trying to come back to Assam.
Although the India government had been trying to extradite Chetia from Bangladesh, it had not been possible due to lack of an extradition treaty between the two countries. However, hope of Chetia’s extradition rekindled after the India and Bangladesh signed the extradition treaty during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the country in 2013.