Accused of murder, musician tells court she was asked to share room with Zubeen in Singapore

Mahanta is one of four people police have charged with murder in connection with Garg’s death in Singapore in September 2025, where he was to perform in the North East India Festival. The other three are Northeast India Festival Singapore organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma, and another co-musician, Shekhar Jyoti Goswami.

A fifth person, Garg’s cousin, Sandipan Garg, has been charged by police with culpable homicide. Of these others, Shyamkanu Mahanta and Sandipan Garg had initially filed bail petitions, but withdrew them during the last hearing on January 22, citing “certain developments and personal and legal reasons”. Sharma and Goswami have not yet applied for bail.

On September 19, Garg went on a yacht outing, which he was reportedly taken on by members of the Assam Association Singapore, and lost consciousness while he was swimming during that outing. He was declared dead by “drowning” when he was taken to Singapore General Hospital. Post-mortem examinations later found high levels of alcohol in his body when he died. Amritprava Mahanta, Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, Siddhartha Sharma and Sandipan Garg were on the yacht with Garg.

In its chargesheet, the Assam Police had charged Amritprava Mahanta, who had been put up in the same hotel room as Garg in Singapore, of “causing excessive drinking of alcohol by the victim” and “not informing his additional consumption of alcohol and him being sleep and food deprived to the manager of the victim or to the organiser or to the wife of the victim”. It also accused her of “encouraging the victim to swim without a life jacket” in that condition.

In her bail petition, Mahanta’s counsel submitted that she had performed with Garg across Assam and outside it, and had accompanied him to Singapore for the festival at his request, and that he was a “fatherly figure” to the 29-year-old. It states that she came to know that she was allotted the same room as Garg after arrival and “that she was not in a position to raise any objection to the said allotment of room in a foreign land and as she was asked to stay in the same room with her fatherly figure so she stayed in that room” and that she had not been aware of a yacht ride till the previous day.

“It is submitted that she had no role, from visiting Singapore as well as in the yacht trip. It is submitted that after the deceased drowned, she tried her best to open his mouth by putting her hand. It is submitted that investigation has already been completed and the chargesheet has been submitted, and there is no whisper of allegation which constitutes any offence under any provision of law against the present accused person,” recorded the court’s order.

“It is further submitted that the allegation against the accused person is that she has not prevented the deceased from swimming without life jacket. It is submitted that ‘omission’ is not a criminal offence. It is submitted that no overt act has been attributed to the accused person. It is submitted that prosecution has failed to explain the role of the accused person and in which manner, she has conspired with other co-accused in connection with the death of Zubeen Garg,” it further recorded.

The court recorded that the Special Public Prosecutor in turn submitted that Mahanta was “fully aware” about the accommodation arrangements and the yacht ride. It also records that the SPP submitted that “though the cause of death of the deceased is mentioned as drowning but the circumstances leading to drowning is the main fact in this case which reflects criminal conspiracy amongst the accused persons”.

“Learned SPP during the course of hearing further submitted that accused Amritprabha Mahanta, in conspiracy with the other co-accused, had agreed to stay in room… with the deceased Zubeen Garg and continuously feed him with alcohol, namely Black and White Whiskey provided by accused Shyam Kanu Mahanta… It is further submitted that during the yacht journey, the accused Amritprabha Mahanta had not informed anybody in the yacht as to how much alcohol was consumed by Zubeen Garg on the previous night while staying with her, for which he was completely incapacitated to swim in the sea. Learned SPP submitted that the offence committed by the accused person is heinous, having serious impact on the society at large, and such crimes must be tackled at any cost. It is submitted that for effective dispensing of criminal justice, offenders of such crime should not be released on bail till completion of trial,” records the order.

The court also recorded that Garg’s wife Garima Saikia Garg filed written objections against the bail applications, stating that “the allegation against the accused persons are serious and grave in nature involving commission of heinous offence effecting public order and safety which carries severe punishment and which is non-bailable” and that that if they are allowed to go on bail, “it will seriously affect the trial and the accused persons may tamper with the investigation”.

While rejecting the bail applications of the two PSOs, Nandeswar Borah and Paresh Baishya, the court stated that “it appears” that they “conspired with the prime accused to misappropriate the money which actually belongs to deceased”, and that their offences “are serious in nature which have ramification in the society”.

In the meantime, a coroner’s inquiry is ongoing in Singapore to establish the cause and circumstances of death, and in the last hearing on January 14, the Singapore police told the court that Garg had consumed alcohol and refused a life vest before jumping off the yacht, and that he became motionless as his friends tried to convince him to swim back to the yacht; and that witnesses noted that Garg was not subjected to duress or coercion before his death.