Assam CID to challenge bail for two accused in Zubeen Garg death case

Assam CID will petition the Supreme Court against bail granted to two accused. The challenge comes as the fast-track trial against seven accused continues.

In Short

• Fast-track court has examined 134 witnesses, with none turning hostile
• Seven people were charge-sheeted, while four face murder allegations in the case
• Zubeen died while swimming near Singapore's Lazarus Island last September

The Assam Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will approach the Supreme Court against the Gauhati High Court's decision to grant bail to two of the seven accused in singer Zubeen Garg's death case, news agency Press Trust of India reported on Sunday.

The petition will be filed after the Supreme Court reopens following the ongoing holidays, Special Director General of Police, CID, Munna Prasad Gupta said.

Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Gupta said, "The honourable Gauhati High Court has granted bail to two accused in case no. 18/25. We have studied the orders, and after analysing those and taking legal opinion, we have decided to move the honourable Supreme Court against the bail orders."

Gupta declined to comment on the bail orders. "Court holidays are on. And as soon as it reopens, we will file it," he added, according to PTI.

Garg's band member and singer Amritprava Mahanta and his cousin, suspended Assam Police Deputy Superintendent Sandipon Garg, secured bail from the high court through separate orders. Mahanta, who was granted bail on October 9, was released from judicial custody. Sandipon Garg was awaiting the execution of his bail order, which was granted on October 16.

Gupta said the fast-track court hearing the case had examined 134 witnesses so far. "The trial of the case is progressing well. No witness has turned hostile," he said.

Morigaon-based lawyer Ratul Bora, who filed the first police complaint after Garg's death in Singapore, said on Saturday that he would also approach the Supreme Court to challenge the Gauhati High Court's bail orders.

Garg, a celebrated singer-songwriter, died under mysterious circumstances while swimming in the sea in Singapore on September 19 last year. He was in the country to attend the fourth edition of the North East India Festival.

Besides Mahanta and Sandipon Garg, the festival's chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer's manager Siddharth Sharma, band member Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, and personal security officers Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya are in jail as accused in the case. The two security officers were granted bail in a disproportionate assets case in September but remain in jail in connection with the singer's death.

A special investigation team of the state CID investigated Garg's death after more than 60 police cases were registered across Assam. It filed a charge sheet before a local court in Guwahati in December last year, naming seven accused. Four of them face murder charges.

Singapore Police conducted a separate investigation and concluded that there was no evidence of foul play. A Singapore court also said Garg was severely intoxicated and drowned off Lazarus Island after declining to wear a life jacket. Assam authorities maintained that the Singapore Police findings would not affect the case in the state. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had told the Assam Assembly that Garg's death was a case of "plain and simple murder".

The CID will now challenge the bail granted to Mahanta and Sandipon Garg in the Supreme Court, while the trial against the seven accused continues before the fast-track court.

- Ends