ULFA leader Anup Chetia remanded in 5 days CBI custody in murder case

Guwahati: Deported ULFA leader Anup Chetia was remanded in five days CBI custody by the Special Judicial Magistrate CBI, Assam, in connection with a 1998 murder case after he was brought to Guwahati on Wednesday.

Chetia's lawyer Bijon Mahajan told reporters in the court premises, "The CBI lawyers had asked for 14 days custody. We presented our side. The court forwarded Golap Baruah (alias Anup Chetia) to five days CBI custody."

He said, "Baruah was arrested under CBI RC (Regular Case) No. 4(S)/88 in connection with a murder incident in 1998 in Golaghat (Assam)."

After he was handed over to India by Bangladesh, where he spent 18 years in jail, and brought to Delhi on November 11, Chetia was arrested the next day by CBI which took a six-day transit remand there, the lawyer said.

At the closure of the transit remand yesterday, CBI brought Chetia to Guwahati by a special aircraft and produced him in the court today, Mahajan said.

The lawyer said, "He (Chetia) is not well. CBI has provided medical care to him."

The court also ordered that during his custody period, Chetia be provided with good health care, be medically checked every 24 hours and the report submitted to the court, besides being given good food.

It directed that Chetia's lawyer be facilitated to meet his client during his five-day custody and be present during his interrogation.

Asked where was Chetia taken to from the court, Mahajan said, "It will not be lawful for me to say where he has been taken. He will be taken to a place as per the legal procedures."

Coming out of the court, a smiling Chetia waved at the people there before being whisked away to an undisclosed destination.

The ULFA leader, who has one of his front teeth missing, was dressed in a blue full sleeved shirt and fawn coloured trousers with his hair dyed in a reddish hue.

Talking to reporters after meeting her husband in the court premises, Chetia's wife Monika Baruah said, "He could not recognise me immediately. Then we talked about domestic matters."