A fast track court in Guwahati, established for the speedy trial of the Zubeen Garg death case, on Wednesday ordered the freezing of six bank accounts either held by accused Siddharth Sharma or operated by him. Sharma, who served as the manager of the late singer, is one of the seven accused in the case.
Background of the Case
Zubeen Garg died while swimming in the Singapore sea on September 19 last year, a day before he was scheduled to perform at the North East India Festival. Following his death, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Assam Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) conducted a probe and filed a chargesheet in December. The chargesheet named seven accused, including North East India Festival organiser Shaymkanu Mahanta. Among them, four have been booked on charges of murder.
Court’s Observations
Judge Sharmila Bhuyan noted that the chief investigating officer presented documents showing siphoning, routing, cash whitening, and transfer of the singer’s money by Sharma, which were inconsistent with his known source of income. The judge stated, “Siddharth failed to substantiate his plea of denial by producing any income source document or income tax return to legitimise such huge deposits in the bank accounts of himself, his brother, mother, and music management.”
The court found strong prima facie evidence that the deposits in the six accounts were proceeds of crime, which Sharma had siphoned, whitened, and routed to those accounts. The judge added that Sharma’s conduct, manner, and duration of investing the misappropriated money from Zubeen into his own projects for profit and wrongful gain made it clear that if the accounts were not attached, the next of kin of the deceased victim would be prejudiced and suffer again. There was every possibility of transferring or dissipating the funds, causing further harm to the victim’s family.
Next Steps
The court’s order aims to preserve the funds pending trial. The case continues to be investigated, and further hearings are scheduled.
