Special public prosecutor Pradip Gogoi being taken to the GMCH on Friday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Feb. 5: The designated court deferred the bail plea hearing of jailed Ulfa leaders Pradip Gogoi and Mithinga Daimary to February 16 after the special public prosecutor fell ill and collapsed on the court premises just before the hearing.

Special public prosecutor Pradip Gogoi was to make a submission before the court in connection with the bail plea. Before he could appear before the court, the government lawyer, who has a heart ailment, collapsed and had to be rushed to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital in an unconscious state.

“Due to the ill health of the special public prosecutor, the judge of the designated court, Soneka Bora, deferred the final hearing of their bail applications to February 16,” one of Mithinga Daimary’s lawyers, Pranab Das said.

Ulfa vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi and former central publicity secretary Mithinga Daimary had moved the court for bail last month.

The hearing of the duo’s bail plea is considered to be crucial as it may have a bearing on initiation of talks between Ulfa and the government. Views have been expressed in different quarters that the government may not oppose the bail plea to facilitate their release from jail so that the duo can do the spadework for the talks.

The official stand of the Centre and the state government is that the Ulfa leaders have filed the applications on their own and it was not part of a government-initiated move to facilitate free movement of the jailed leaders towards a peace process.

Union home minister P. Chidambaram and chief minister Tarun Gogoi have stated that they were awaiting a formal communiqué from the outfit’s leaders, expressing willingness to hold talks.

Incarcerated Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa has made it clear that the outfit’s leaders will not start any dialogue from jail.

Speculation is rife that if Gogoi and Daimary are released on bail they will start preliminary talks with the government, paving the way for the release of the outfit’s other central committee members.

The other top Ulfa leaders behind bars are deputy commander-in-chief Raju Barua, foreign secretary Sasha Choudhury, finance secretary Chitrabon Hazarika, cultural secretary Pranati Deka and political adviser Bhimkanta Buragohain.