Guwahati, November 8 (The Telegraph): Assam police today produced in court Ulfa leaders Chitrabon Hazarika and Sasha Choudhury, partly taking the veil off an undeclared operation that began unfolding earlier this week across the border in Bangladesh. The special operations unit of Assam police booked Hazarika, the “finance secretary” of the outfit, and Choudhury, its “foreign secretary,” on charges of possessing illegal arms and cash. The case was registered with the unit in 1998. Kamrup chief judicial magistrate Robin Phukan remanded the two to 10 days’ police custody. Ulfa has called a 12-hour Assam bandh on Monday demanding that the two leaders be produced before the media. Choudhury told reporters on the court premises that they had not surrendered and expressed ignorance about the identity of the persons who had detained them in Bangladesh. They were handed over to Assam police on Thursday, Choudhury said.
“Mori jam kintu Sasha Choudhuryea surrender nokore (Sasha Choudhury will rather die than surrender),” Choudhury said in reply to a question on the circumstances of his “arrest”. The grey-haired duo, looking older than their years (both are in their late forties) appeared relaxed, showing little sign of strain. They were later taken to an undisclosed location in a police bus.
Advocate B.K. Mahajan, who represented the Ulfa leaders in the court, quoted the police as saying the duo were detained by the BSF when they tried to “infiltrate” through Tripura on the night of November 4. “The BSF, accordingly, summoned the spotters of Assam police. They identified the Ulfa leaders and the BSF handed over the duo to Assam police on November 6,” he said. Sources, however, said the Ulfa leaders told the court that they were picked up by the Bangladeshi agencies on November 1 and later pushed back into India by the authorities there.

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