Assam appoints 5-member special team of prosecutors for Zubeen Garg murder trial

GUWAHATI: The Assam cabinet on Friday approved constitution of a team of legal experts to act as special public prosecutors in the murder trial of cultural icon Zubeen Garg who died in Singapore in September last year while swimming in the sea.

“In today’s cabinet meeting, we formed a five-member team of legal experts to put the government’s side effectively in the Zubeen Garg murder trial. Ziaul Kamar, senior advocate in Gauhati high court, would be the special public prosecutor (SPP) in the case,” Sarma said.

He added that Brojendra Mohan Choudhury, would be the additional (SPP), Kishore Datta, Pranjal Dutta and Bikash Jamar be the assistant SPPs in the team.

The move comes days after Zubeen Garg’s wife Garima on February 3 pointed to a battery of lawyers appearing for the defendants in the case and asked the state government to have an “equally strong” prosecution team.

The cabinet appreciated the move by Garg’s family to start a trust in his name to keep the cultural icon’s legacy alive and announced a sum of ₹5 crores from the government to the trust.

“We have decided to hand over the sum as a one-time grant so that the trust can work to preserve and promote Garg’s songs and music and build a museum in his name,” said Sarma.

Last week, the family members of Garg announced the formation of the Zubeen Garg Trust, an initiative aimed at preserving his artistic legacy and carrying forward his lifelong commitment to society, culture and young talent.

Fifty-two-year old Garg had died in Singapore on September 19 during a yacht outing organised by the Assam Association there. He had gone to the country to attend a cultural festival.

Following the death, Assam government formed a special investigation team (SIT) under CID to probe the circumstances surrounding the death. A separate case is lodged by CID on financial irregularities by Garg’s manager, Siddharth Sharma, and organiser of the Singapore festival Shyamkanu Mahanta.

Shyamkanu and Siddhartha, two of Garg’s bandmates Shekharjyoti Goswami and co-singer Amrit Prabha Mahanta and Garg’s cousin and Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg, all of who were present in Singapore at the time of the incident have been arrested and charged with his murder.

Two of Garg’s bodyguards, Nandeswar Bora and Paresh Baishya were arrested later and charged with misappropriation of funds. Last month the SIT submitted a charge sheet in the case against the seven accused.