Court to resume Shyamkanu bail hearing in Zubeen case today

Guwahati: The bail petition moved by Shyamkanu Mahanta, one of the accused in the singer Zubeen Garg death case, was part-heard on Wednesday by the fast-track court, with the hearing scheduled to resume on Thursday.

Judge Sharmila Bhuyan, in her order, stated, “Argument on the bail petition for accused Shyamkanu Mahanta is part heard as time is now 4.40 pm and further argument is reserved till tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, the judge stated that the affidavit filed for accused Siddharth Sharma in his bail petition was defective and no court fee was affixed. “Accordingly, the same is not accepted, and the petitioner and his engaged counsel are directed to file a fresh affidavit. Thereafter, the bail petition filed for the accused Siddharth Sharma will be taken up,” the judge stated.

Special public prosecutor (SPP) Z Kamar said, “We have argued on a few important points before the court. First, the accused counsels argued about an e-mail by Shyamkanu Mahanta to the hotel asking not to supply alcohol to Zubeen. On the contrary, we submitted that Shyamkanu asked Abhimanyu Tanti (an Assamese resident living in Singapore) to bring alcohol, which he bought and handed over to Shyamkanu, who finally gave it to Zubeen.”

On the argument by the accused counsels that the “accused have no flight risk”, the SPP said, “We have submitted that look out circular was already issued against him since he was not joining the investigation. It was only after issuance of the lookout circular, he joined the investigation.”

The SPP said, “Another point raised was that he should be granted bail since he has been lodged in jail for the last seven months. We countered that being in jail cannot be a ground for bail.”

On other arguments, the SPP said, “We also submitted before the court that if the prosecution cannot make out any case against them during the charge hearing and no charge is framed, they will be discharged. But if charges are framed, the bail petition will have no merit.”

Mahanta was the organiser of the fourth edition of the North East India Festival in Singapore in Sept last year. Zubeen went to attend the festival on Sept 17, where he was scheduled to perform on Sept 20. However, he died at the age of 52 while swimming in the sea on Sept 16.

The Gauhati high court on March 19 set up a fast-track court to conduct day-to-day trial proceedings in the Zubeen Garg death case. It was constituted six months after the singer’s death and three months after the SIT submitted the chargesheet.

Shyamkanu’s wife, Anita Deka Mahanta, speaking to the media for the first time on Wednesday, said her husband had been lodged in jail for the last seven months for “no fault”. “We will get justice. Zubeen had trust in Shyamkanu,” she said.

Siddharth was the singer’s manager. Besides Shyamkanu and Siddharth, other accused include Zubeen’s bandmate Shekharjyoti Goswami, co-singer Amritprabha Mahanta, cousin Sandipon Garg, and two PSOs — Nandeswar Borah and Paresh Baishya. All are currently lodged in jail.

Murder charges under various sections of the law have been framed against four of them — Shyamkanu, Siddharth, Shekharjyoti, and Amritprabha. Sandipon has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The two PSOs of Zubeen were named in the chargesheet for related offences, including criminal conspiracy and breach of trust.
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