Guwahati, May 26 A special court on Tuesday framed charges against seven accused arrested in connection with the death of Assamese musician Zubeen Garg.
Special Fast-track Court Judge Sharmila Bhuyan read out the charges against the accused, who pleaded "not guilty", Public Prosecutor Ziaul Kamar said.
"There will be no miscellaneous hearing from today onwards. We will directly proceed to the witness hearing, which will begin on June 8 and will be conducted on a daily basis," he added.
The PP has been instructed to submit the list of witnesses at one go, and the court will call them accordingly, Kamar said.
"After reading out the charges, the accused pleaded not guilty. The court then announced to proceed with the trial," he added.
The celebrated singer died under mysterious circumstances in Singapore on September 19 last year while swimming in the sea. He had gone to Singapore to attend the 4th edition of the North East India Festival (NEIF).
NEIF chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer's manager Siddharth Sharma, Garg's two band members Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amrit Prabha Mahanta, cousin and Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg, and his PSOs Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya are in jail as accused in the case.
They were booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for murder, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy and causing death by negligence.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Assam Police probed Garg's death case after more than 60 FIRs were lodged across the state.
Kamar said prime accused Shyamkanu Mahanta has been charged with eight sections of the BNS, while seven charges were noted against Sharma.
Goswami and Amrit Prabha will face six charges each, Bora and Baishya will challenge two charges each, and Sandipan Garg will defend himself from one charge.
Shyamkanu is the younger brother of former DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, who was also the Chief Information Commissioner of the Assam State Information Commission. Gauhati University's VC Nani Gopal Mahanta, who was the Education Advisor to CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, is another elder brother of him.
Singapore Police Force, which carried out a separate probe, concluded that there was no evidence of foul play.
Ruling out any foul play, a Coroner's Court in Singapore had also said that the popular Indian singer-songwriter was severely intoxicated and had drowned off Lazarus Island after declining a life jacket.
