Zubeen Garg death case: 4 booked for murder, Assam cop cousin charged with culpable homicide

NEW DELHI: Four people have been charged with murder in connection with singer Zubeen Garg’s death, according to the findings of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) made public on Friday. The singer’s cousin, suspended Assam Police officer Sandipan Garg, has been named in the chargesheet for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rather than murder.

The four accused are Shyamkanu Mahanta, Siddhartha Sharma, Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta. Mahanta was the chief organiser of the North East India Festival in Singapore, which Garg attended before he died under unexplained circumstances while swimming in the sea on September 19.

“As promised, we have filed a chargesheet in the Court of CJM… A few have been charged with murder. One has been charged with culpable homicide, and the other two PSOs have been charged with other charges,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. He further stated that the chargesheet runs to nearly 12,000 pages, including the main chargesheet, seizure records and witness statements, describing it as a “meticulously done exercise”, and added that although documents were obtained from Singapore, the case has been established on the basis of India’s own evidence.

Garg’s two personal security officers, Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya, have been charged under Section 31(c) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with criminal breach of trust involving misuse of property or funds entrusted to them.

Also read: Manager, Fest Organiser Poisoned Zubeen Garg, Bandmate Makes Shocking Allegations

The Assam government had constituted an SIT led by Special DGP M P Gupta to investigate the circumstances of the singer’s death. Meanwhile, the Singapore Police Force, which is conducting a parallel probe, has said in a statement that its preliminary findings indicate no signs of foul play and that its investigation could take up to another three months to conclude.