Sasha Chowdhury. A file picture

Guwahati, Nov. 12: Police are up against a wall with Ulfa’s “foreign secretary” Sasha Choudhury keeping his lips sealed.

A source said Choudhury would be a tough nut to crack, given his background and mental make-up.

“It is going to be a long haul. We are, in fact, looking for expert interrogators — those who would be able to match his knowledge, intellect and patience — to dig out information instead of going through the routine interrogation,” he said.

The 46-year-old junior civil engineer (civil) the source said, was a combination of “Arabinda Rajkhowa-Paresh Barua-Chitrabon Hazarika”.

His proximity with the leadership and his long tenure — from the eighties — have made him a goldmine of information, which the security establishment want to tap.

“We need to take information out of him given his links with foreign countries. We can safely say that he has 80 per cent information, only 20 per cent less than commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, about the outfit’s source of sustenance. His revelations would be a big help in tackling the outfit. For this, we need expert handling,” he said, adding that of late, though, his post had become redundant.

Chitrabon Hazarika, the Ulfa “finance secretary” who was arrested along with the Choudhury last week, on the other hand, has thrown light on quite a few areas, including the source of funds to the outfit.

The duo were held in Tripura while trying to sneak into the country from Bangladesh and were subsequently handed over on Friday to the Assam police, who got 10 days’ custody.

Choudhury, they said, joined the outfit in 1983 while still studying in Nagaon Polytechnic, from where he passed in 1985 with first division marks. He did his Plus II in science from Arya Vidyapeeth in Guwahati.

“He got second division and moved to Nagaon for his BE,” his 40-year-old brother Prasenjit said today.

His other brother, Dipak, was a victim of secret killing in 2000.

The family, from Nalbari, has not been able to meet Sasha.

“We could not meet him at the CJM’s court because of the rush there. His lawyers say that he is fine. He is being kept at 4 APBn in Kahilipara here. We have faith in the police as far as his safety is concerned,” Prasenjit added.