Assam: 5 accused in Zubeen Garg's death remanded to judicial custody

Guwahati: Five people, who have been arrested in connection with the death of singer Zubeen Garg in Singapore last month, have been sent to judicial custody on Wednesday after their police remand ended.

North East India Festival (NEIF) chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, Zubeen's manager Siddhartha Sharma, his cousin and police officer Sandipan Garg and his personal security officers (PSOs) Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya were remanded to judicial custody by the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate.

The court, expressing concern for their safety, also ruled that they should be sent to a jail where there were fewer prisoners.

Accordingly, the authorities decided to shift all five accused to Baksa Jail at Mussalpur, which was inaugurated two months ago, and there are still no prisoners, an official said.

Mahanta and Sharma were arrested on October 1 in Delhi in connection with the singer’s death in Singapore last month and were booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy and causing death by negligence, with murder charges added later.

The duo were given police custody for 14 days, which ended on Tuesday.

Zubeen Garg's cousin and Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg was arrested on October 8 and remanded to seven days of police custody.

Serving as the in-charge of the co-district superintendent of police of Boko-Chaygaon in Kamrup district, Sandipan was suspended from office on the day of his arrest.

The police officer had accompanied the singer to Singapore and was present on the yacht during Zubeen's last moments.

The singer's two PSOs were arrested on October 10 and were remanded to five-day police custody.

Two others - Zubeen's band members Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and singer Amritprava Mahanta - were arrested on October 3 and remanded to 14-day police custody.

The CID has also initiated a separate probe against Mahanta for alleged organised financial crimes and "acquiring huge amounts of 'benami' properties by money laundering".

The Assam government had constituted a 10-member SIT to investigate the singer's death in Singapore due to drowning in the sea on September 19.

More than 60 FIRs were filed across the state against Mahanta, Sharma and several others, following which the chief minister had directed the DGP to transfer all the FIRs to the CID and to register a consolidated case for a thorough investigation.