Zubeen case: Court de-freezes Festival organiser Shyamkanu’s account over ‘technical lapse’

A court here on Monday ordered the de-freezing of the bank account of an accused in the Zubeen Garg death case over “technical lapses”, while fixing March 19 for consideration of charge hearing, the special public prosecutor (SPP) in the case said.

The Kamrup Metropolitan District and Sessions Court, which is hearing the case, also rejected a petition by another accused seeking a report of the Singapore Police, he said.

SPP Ziaul Kamar, briefing reporters, said, “The honourable court has set March 19 for consideration of the charge hearing. After that, the trial will begin.”

He asserted that the prosecution, which leads the charge hearing, will be ready for it, though he could not comment on behalf of the accused.

“I don’t know what the accused will do, what petition they may file,” Kamar, who had earlier charged the accused of adopting delaying tactics by submitting different petitions, added.

He said the court has ordered to de-freeze the bank account of one of the accused, Shyamkanu Mahanta, for “technical reasons”.

Garg’s wife, Garima Saikia Garg, who was present at the hearing along with the celebrated singer’s sister Palme Barthakur, expressed “disappointment” at the de-freezing of Mahanta’s bank account.

“It is bad news for us. It was ordered due to some procedural lapse and technical issue,” she said.

The senior counsel further said that the court has rejected the petition by another accused, Siddharth Sharma, seeking a copy of the Singapore Police’s report in Garg’s case.

“The court said that the Assam Police has already acquired all the details and it can be accessed by the accused for further examination on March 10 to 12, from 2 pm to 4 pm,” he said.

On Sharma seeking de-attachment of his flat in Guwahati, Kamar said the court has ordered that it may be opened if Sharma provides a bank surety of Rs 16 lakh to the police.

Sharma, Garg’s manager, is accused of using an amount of Rs 16 lakh embezzled from the singer while purchasing the flat.

A separate case concerning a packaged drinking water company, Mahabir Aqua, of which Sharma is a co-owner, will also be taken up by the same court on March 19, Kamar added.

Asked about any progress in setting up the fast-track court to take forward the case as announced by the Government, the SPP said it is a matter between the Government and the Gauhati High Court.

He maintained that it will definitely expedite the hearing process, though “legal procedures cannot be curtailed”.

“The accused also have their rights. They might file petitions (before the fast-track court), we might also have to file petitions,” Kamar added.

Garima also hoped that setting up a fast-track court will expedite the case, though she was not aware of progress in the matter.

The celebrated singer had died on September 19 last year while swimming in the sea in Singapore, where he had gone to attend the 4th edition of the North East India Festival (NEIF).

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police’s CID probed the case and submitted the charge-sheet in December, which included murder charges against some of the accused.

Besides NEIF chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and Sharma, Garg’s two band members, Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amrit Prabha Mahanta, his cousin and now-suspended Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg, and his PSOs Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya are in jail as accused in the case.

The state cabinet had earlier appointed a five-member team of Special Public Prosecutors (PP) with senior advocate Ziaul Kamar to lead it. It had named Brojendra Mohan Chaudhuri as additional PP, and Kishor Dutta, Pranjal Dutta and Vikash Jammar as assistant PPs.

Ruling out any foul play, a Coroner’s Court in Singapore had said that the popular Indian singer-songwriter was severely intoxicated and had drowned off Lazarus Island after declining a life jacket.