Guwahati: The Assam Cabinet on Friday approved the appointment of a five-member team of special public prosecutors in the case related to the death of cultural icon Zubeen Garg.
“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,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
Brojendra Mohan Choudhury will be the additional PP, and Kishore Dutta, Pranjal Dutta and Bikash Jamar will be the assistant PPs, he added.
The development comes days after Zubeen Garg’s wife, Garima, on February 3 highlighted the presence of a battery of lawyers representing the defendants and urged the state government to ensure an “equally strong” prosecution team.
The chief minister further said that the Cabinet has also okayed a grant of Rs 5 crore for the trust to be set up by Garg’s family in his name.
“The Cabinet has welcomed the family’s decision. Later, if plans for preserving Garg’s memory and works are shared, the government will always try to help the trust,” he added.
The 52-year-old singer-composer-actor had died while swimming in the sea on September 19 in Singapore, where he had gone to attend the North East India Festival. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police’s CID is probing the death and submitted its charge sheet before the court on December 12.
It has charged four accused, festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer’s secretary Siddhartha Sharma and his two band members, Shekharjyoti Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta, with murder, and a fifth one, the singer’s cousin and suspended police officer Sandipan Garg, with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
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The singer’s two personal security officers (PSOs) — Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya — have been charged with criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust by misappropriating funds or property entrusted to them.
