PTI
GUWAHATI, DECEMBER 5
ULFA leader GolapBaruah alias Anup Chetia’s bail plea was on Saturday rejected and he was remanded to another 14 days in judicial custody after his remand in connection with a CBI case ended on Saturday.
Chetia was produced in the court of the Special Judicial Magistrate, CBI, Assam on expiry of the tenure of his judicial custody in connection with a CBI case and he was remanded to another 14 days of judicial custody.
He will be produced again before the court on December 19 next. He was then taken to the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court for the hearing of his bail petition which was rejected by the CJM, Chetia’s lawyer BijonMahajan said.
He was also produced before the CJM in connection with a case of the Special Operation Unit (SOU) with the police seeking seven days custody but this was rejected on the ground that he has been already charge-sheeted in the case.
Chetia, who was in Bangladesh since his arrest by the neighbouring country’s police in 1997, was handed over to India on November 11 following which he was arrested by CBI in Delhi the next day.
Chetia was arrested by CBI in connection with a murder in Golaghat (Assam) and the investigation agency had taken him under its custody on a six-day transit remand. He was brought to Guwahati on November 18 and produced in the SJM CBI Court the same day to be sent to five-days CBI remand that day.
At the end of the CBI remand, Chetia was produced on November 23 and remanded to 14 days judicial custody which ended on Saturday. The ULFA leader will continue to be lodged in the Guwahati Central Jail.
Don’t set Chetia free, APW to Assam government
As the fate of Ulfa general secretary Anup Chetia is still uncertain, Assam Public Works (APW), an NGO, has urged both the Centre and the state government not to release the rebel leader from judicial custody. Chetia, who was extradited by Bangladesh last month, is currently lodged in Guwahati jail.
The APW fears that if Chetia is released, he might disappear like he had done in 1992 after returning for the first peace talks with then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. Chetia will be produced in court on Saturday at the end of his 14-day judicial custody.
“Will the state government or the Centre take responsibility if he (Chetia) flees again?” asked president of the NGO, Aabhijit Sarma, here on Friday. He said the practice of releasing militant leaders in name of peace talks is only a gimmick.
“No peace talk can get the desired result without the outfit supremo Paresh Baruah joining it. Even as the peace process is on, the Ulfa hardliners are too continuing their subversive activities,” said Sarma.
He alleged that political parties are hoodwinking the people of the state in the name of peace process.
“In 2011, the then Congress government in both the Centre and the state did politics ahead state polls and now BJP government too trying to do the same. We urged the pro-talks Ulfa leaders not to become the bait once more,” said APW president.
Criticizing the pro-talks Ulfa faction, the APW alleged that the faction leaders have become the puppet of the government whereas they once claimed to have fought for the state’s freedom.
“They are criminals, murderers and extortionists. If they are really discussing peace, then why cant they first bring their colleague, Paresh Baruah, to the talks table?” questioned Sarma.
