B’desh hands Chetia to India:

Bangladesh handed the founder of a militant separatist group to India on Wednesday, a rebel leader that for years New Delhi had fought to extradite.

Anup Chetia founded the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) more than three decades ago and had been imprisoned in Bangladesh for the last 18 years after being charged with staying in the country illegally and unlawful possession of foreign currencies.

He completed a seven-year sentence but was kept in a jail on the outskirts of Dhaka, as India and Bangladesh, where he had applied for political asylum, struggled to agree to the terms for his extradition.

“I welcome the handing over of Anoop Chetia to India by the Bangladesh government,” Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Twitter.

Bangladesh’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters that as well as Chetia, ULFA leaders Laxmiprasad Goswami and Babul Sharma had also been handed over.

Chetia is expected to arrive on Indian soil later on Wednesday.

The ULFA is one of the largest of the