New Delhi: ULFA ‘general secretary’ Anup Chetia, who is currently in a jail in Bangladesh, is likely to be repatriated to India on July 16.
Bangladesh has indicated that Chetia will be sent back to India a day or two before the Home Secretary level talks between the two countries scheduled to be held here on July 18-19.
He will be brought to New Delhi and ULFA ‘chairman’ Arabinda Rajkhowa, who is holding peace dialogue with the government, has been asked to come to the national capital for a meeting with him, officials said.
A team of Assam Police will also come to New Delhi to take custody of Chetia as various cases, including murder, kidnapping and extortion, are registered against him in Assam. The ULFA leader had given two applications in a Dhaka court — one of withdrawal of his petition seeking asylum in Bangladesh and second of a request for repatriation to India.
Chetia was arrested in Bangladesh in 1997 and was subsequently handed down seven years of jail term by a court for cross-border intrusion, carrying fake passports and illegally keeping foreign currencies. Despite the end of his term, the ULFA leader continues to remain in jail under a 2003 high court directive to keep him in safe custody until the government makes a decision on his petition seeking political asylum in Bangladesh.
The latest development came five months after India and Bangladesh signed an extradition treaty agreeing to deport wanted “criminals” lodged in each other’s jails. (PTI)