Guwahati: Two band members of Zubeen Garg Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta were remanded to judicial custody Friday, after their 14 days of police remand ended in connection with the singer’s death in Singapore last month.
The duo was brought to court and later taken away in separate police vans, after the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate remanded them to judicial custody.
They will be produced in court again within 14 days.
Authorities are tight-lipped about the prison where they will be lodged, following violence outside the Baksa District Jail, where the five other accused in the case were taken Wednesday, after they were remanded to judicial custody.
Both Goswami and Mahanta were arrested October 3 after several days of interrogation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), and remanded to 14 days’ police custody.
Altogether, seven persons have been arrested by the SIT since October 1 in the case, and all have been remanded to judicial custody.
Garg had died while swimming in the sea in Singapore September 19.
North East India Festival (NEIF) chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer’s manager Siddhartha Sharma, his cousin and police officer Sandipan Garg, and his personal security officers Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya were remanded to judicial custody Wednesday by the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate.
The court, expressing concern for their safety, had also ruled that they should be sent to a jail with lesser prisoners, and accordingly, the accused were taken to the Baksa District Jail.
A huge crowd had gathered outside the jail, protesting against the accused being brought to Baksa, and some even demanded that they be handed over to the public to ensure “justice for Zubeen”.
The Assam Police had to lathicharge and fire teargas shells to disperse the mob, which “attacked, set ablaze some vehicles and hurled stones” at the convoy carrying the five accused.
Prohibitory orders have been imposed under Section 163 of BNSS in Mushalpur town and adjoining areas of the jail, while internet/mobile data services in the entire Baksa district will remain suspended with immediate effect till further orders, officials said.
Several people, including police personnel, mediapersons and local residents, were injured in the unrest, they said.
Earlier, the Assam government had constituted a 10-member SIT to investigate Garg’s death in Singapore.
More than 60 FIRs have been filed across the state against Mahanta, Sharma and several others, following which Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had directed the DGP to transfer all the FIRs to the CID and register a consolidated case for thorough investigation.
