Guwahati: ULFA general secretary Golap Baruah, alias Anup Chetia, was on Thursday released from the Guwahati Central Jail after obtaining bail in four cases registered against him.
Chetia had yesterday got bail in the last of the four cases against him paving the way for his release from the jail
Emerging from the jail, the ULFA leader told journalists that he will participate in the peace talks.
Chetia said that he was in favour the ongoing peace talks between the central government and ULFA for restoring peace in Assam. “Many quarters have suspected that as in 1992 we will not continue with the talks with the government. I want to sincerely say that the political times then have changed today and have made us think afresh”, Chetia said.
“I will be a part of the ongoing tripartite talks among the ULFA, central and Assam governments to resolve the insurgency issue”, he said. On the role of his former colleague and now ULFA (Independent) ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Baruah in the peace talks, Chetia said “the contributions of Paresh Baruah have to be acknowledged in taking forward our revolution during the last three decades. It is sad that he is not a part of the peace talks”.
Following his extradition on November 11, Chetia was arrested by CBI in Delhi in connection with a murder in Golaghat.
Chetia was handed over to India by Bangladesh where he was in jail since his arrest by the country’s police in 1997 on charges of cross-border intrusion, carrying fake passports and illegally keeping foreign currencies.
“During my 17 years in jail in Bangladesh, I had no contact with Paresh Baruah. I only had information about him through media reports”, said Chetia, who was extradited to India from Bangladesh. The ULFA leader asked “for forgiveness from the people of Assam for the hardship they went through and the sacrifices they made during “our 36 years of armed struggle. Many also sacrificed their life and suffered personal and economic loses”. “We do not have the capacity to repay the loses but through my work during the rest of my life I want to contribute to their welfare and progress of Assam”, he said. Chetia thanked the central and Assam governments for bringing him back to India from Bangladesh. He was further grateful to the Bangladesh jail authorities, the government there and media “for never making me feel I was in a foreign country”.
In the last of the four cases registered against him, Chetia was on Wednesday granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 30,000 and a surety of a like amount from one individual with conditions he cannot hamper with the process of investigation and he cannot leave the jurisdiction of the Special Judicial Magistrate without prior permission. Chetia was earlier granted bail in three cases out of the four that were registered against him after his extradition to India from Bangladesh. On December 22 Chetia was allowed to go on bail by the Additional Sessions Judge No 3 on a Special Operations Unit charge-sheeted case, while on December 17 the designated court here had allowed him to go on bail on two TADA cases for facilitating his trial and for him to participate in the ongoing peace process. (PTI)
