Haflong/Guwahati, Oct 13 (PTI): Singer Amritprava Mahanta, an accused in the Zubeen Garg death case, was released on bail from a jail in Assam’s Dima Hasao district on Tuesday.
Mahanta’s family received her as she stepped out of Haflong sub-jail.
The Gauhati High Court granted Mahanta bail on October 9 against a bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the same amount.
Justice Pranjal Das, disposing of the bail petition, said materials placed before it so far did not make even a prima facie case against her, and investigation materials don’t support the findings of the chargesheet.
Mahanta was arrested in October last year in connection with Garg’s death. She was lodged at Haflong sub-jail, along with another accused, Shekhar Jyoti Goswami. The rest of the accused in the case are at Baksa jail.
Garg, a celebrated singer-songwriter, died under mysterious circumstances in Singapore on September 19 last year while swimming in the sea. He was in the country to attend the fourth edition of the North East India Festival (NEIF).
Besides Mahanta and Goswami, NEIF chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer’s manager Siddharth Sharma, cousin and since-suspended Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg, and personal security officers Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya are accused in the case. The two PSOs were granted bail in a disproportionate assets case in September, but remain in jail in connection with the artiste’s death case.
Justice Das, in his bail order, said the chargesheet stated that Mahanta was one of the conspirators who had hatched the plan to murder Garg, and her role was to make him drink alcohol.
The court noted there was no statement or document whatsoever stating or indicating that Mahanta had made Garg drink alcohol, had any role in his visit to Singapore, in organising the yacht trip or Garg’s swim in the sea without a life jacket.
“Therefore, in the considered opinion of this court, the findings in the chargesheet with regard to A-4 (Mahanta), prima facie do not find support from the materials collected during investigation,” Justice Das said.
The judge also took into consideration the length of her undertrial detention since her arrest on October 3 last year, absence of criminal antecedents and the special provision pertaining to women in matters of bail envisaged under Section 480 (1) of the BNSS.
“Considering the nature of the materials found on record so far, with regard to A-4 Amritprava Mahanta, it would be a travesty of justice to deny her bail at this stage, especially when she has already undergone undertrial detention for almost a year now,” the order added.
Justice Das, however, said the judgment was regarding the granting of bail to the petitioner, Mahanta.
“Though the aforesaid factor might weigh in favour of granting bail to A-4 (Mahanta), it is made clear, however, that the lack of a prima facie case from the materials, as inferred by this court herein, is only for the purpose of the present bail adjudication. The final determination of the question of guilt or otherwise is a subject of the ongoing trial,” he said.
The judge noted that while all life is precious, “the life of Zubeen Garg was extraordinarily precious for the whole community, the Assamese people, and the people of Assam”.
He said that in hindsight, for a person like Garg, with his comorbidities, there could have been at least one round-the-clock personal caretaker or medical attendant with the sole responsibility of giving him medicines on time and ensuring strict adherence to medical protocols.
Prima facie, it appeared that several of the protocols were violated, he added.
“The final determination of any such violation of the protocols — whether any or more of the charged accused persons were responsible for the same and more importantly, whether the same would invite criminal liability — would be a matter of adjudication during the trial,” Justice Das added.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CID probed Garg’s death after more than 60 FIRs were lodged across the state.
It filed its chargesheet before a court here in December, naming the seven accused. Four of them are facing murder charges.
An exclusive special fast-track sessions court here is hearing the case.
Singapore Police, which has carried out a separate probe, has concluded that there is no evidence of foul play.
A Coroner’s Court in Singapore had also said the popular Indian singer-songwriter was severely intoxicated and had drowned off Lazarus Island after declining a life jacket.
Authorities in Assam, however, maintained that it will not impact the case in the northeastern state in any manner.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said in the state assembly that Garg’s death was a case of “plain and simple murder”.
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