Thanks to Dhaka, one of India’s most wanted fugitives arrested (Roundup)

GUWAHATI - One of India’s most wanted fugitives and leader of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), Ranjan Daimary, blamed for the October 2008 serial bombings in Assam that killed about 100 people, was arrested early Saturday, police sources said.

The 50-year-old stocky Bodo tribal separatist leader was handed over by Bangladesh to officials of the Border Security Force (BSF) at a border post in Dawki in the northeastern state of Meghalaya just after midnight Friday.

Daimary and two other NDFB militants have since been interrogated at the Assam Police Special Branch headquarters in Guwahati after they were brought by a special team of police and intelligence officials from Dawki.

According to Assam Police sources, the NDFB leader was arrested April 17 in the town of Jinaighati in Sherpur district of Bangladesh and was kept in their custody before being handed over to Indian authorities Saturday.

“He is a big catch no doubt,” said an official who did not want to be named. However, the Assam administration has refused to officially confirm Daimary’s arrest.

The arrest was made following tip off about the presence of Daimary in Jinaighati area by Indian military intelligence officials to the Detective Branch of the Bangladesh police in early April.

The sources said the military intelligence told Bangladeshi officials that Daimary’s son studied at a school in Dhaka. The boy and telephone intercepts between the NDFB chief and his wife led to the dramatic arrest.

“We are in the dark about his whereabouts and the government has not intimated us,” Anjali Daimary, the younger sister of the NDFB chief, told IANS in Guwahati.

The NDFB was formed in 1986 for carving out an independent homeland for the Bodo tribes people in Assam.

It was blamed for the October 2008 serial explosions in Assam that killed about 100 people and wounded up to 800.

The 5 feet, 7 inches tall Daimary, a post-graudate in political science, is described on the Assam Police website as the “most violent and suicidal” person sought by the Interpol.

He was operating out of Bangladesh since the late 80s and seldom visited Assam. His bases were spread from the Chittagong Hill Tracts to Sherpur and Moulvi Bazar. His cadres extorted money in Assam.

“His arrest will surely bring peace to Assam,” said Biswajit Daimary, a Bodo tribal MP from Assam.

The arrest has come as a major setback for Daimary’s group that opposes peace talks with Indian authorities.

Police estimate that he commands about 300 militants, most of whom could be still in Bangladesh and some in western Assam.

Earlier, the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina handed over four top leaders of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to India - chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah, Foreign Secretary Sasha Choudhury, and Finance Secretary Chitraban Hazarika.

All the top four ULFA leaders are now in Guwahati jail.

“We are committed to the fight against terror,” said Mohammed Zamir, political advisor to the Bangladesh Prime Minister, told IANS by telephone from Dhaka. But he refused to deny or confirm Daimary’s arrest.

According to Assam government sources, Daimary would be interrogated for at least two days before being produced in court.

In 2005, a faction of the NDFB led by its general secretary Gobinda Basumatary entered into a ceasefire with New Delhi, but Daimary preferred to continue his armed struggle out of Bangladesh.