Fourth hearing in Zubeen Garg death case held, bail pleas of all accused on Jan 22

Guwahati, Jan 17: The fourth hearing in the death case of Zubeen Garg was held today at the District Sessions Judge’s court, amid heightened legal activity involving multiple bail pleas, senior legal representation, and coordinated efforts by the state government.

All accused appeared the hearing virtually from the respective jails they are lodged in

The court took up the bail applications of Amritprava Mahanta and Nandeshwar Bora, both of whom had filed pleas during the previous hearing on January 3.

However, the government sought time, and it was decided that the state will formally oppose Amritprava Mahanta’s bail application on January 22.

According to Special Public prosecutor Ziaul Kamar, all five accused Shyamkanu Mahanta, Siddharth Sharma, Amritprava Mahanta, Sandeepan Garg, and Nandeshwar Bora have now filed bail applications.

The court has fixed January 22 for the hearing of all bail pleas, while charge framing and other related proceedings have been scheduled for January 30.

Shyamkanu Mahanta and Siddharth Sharma have independently appointed teams of senior lawyers from Kolkata. Mahanta's legal team, including Sani Mukherjee and Rajdeep Banerjee, participated virtually in today’s hearing. Siddharth Sharma is being represented by Anil Mishra.

Amritprava Mahanta has appointed senior advocate Anan Kumar Bhuyan, while Jyoti Goswami is being represented by Sadhan Kalita.

On the prosecution side, the Assam government has appointed five additional lawyers to strengthen its case. The five-member government legal team is led by Ziaul Kamar and includes Brajen Mohan Choudhury, Kishor Dutta, Pranjal Dutta, and Bikash Zamar.

Additionally, Zubeen's wife Garima Saikia Garg has appointed a personal lawyer to assist the government team. 

During the proceedings, issues related to video conferencing were discussed.

The defence sought permission for virtual participation, citing it as their legal right. The court allowed this, with the condition that proceedings would not be halted in case of technical failures.

The prosecution maintained that all necessary documents had already been shared, but clarified that until the copy process is formally completed, charge framing cannot proceed, prompting the court to fix the next dates.

Speaking on the matter, Garima Saikia Garg asserted that accountability would be ensured. She stated that the government has moved to bring members of the Assamese community living in Singapore under its purview, adding that the Singapore Police are in contact with Indian authorities and full cooperation is being extended.

While Singapore authorities will analyse the sequence of events on the day of the incident, she said the Assam government would investigate the motive and underlying reasons behind the crime.