Guwahati: Gauhati high court on Friday granted bail to Amritprava Mahanta, one of seven accused in the Zubeen Garg death case.The Assam CID-led SIT had charged her with murder, conspiracy, common intention and destruction of evidence.Mahanta is the first accused in the case to be granted bail. The order does not amount to an acquittal. The fast-track court has framed charges, and the prosecution must still prove its case at trial.Mahanta, who accompanied Garg to Singapore as his co-singer for the North East India Festival, was arrested on Oct 2 last year along with six others. She is lodged in Haflong sub-jail.Special public prosecutor Ziaul Kamar said Justice Pranjal Das granted bail to Mahanta against a bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the same amount.“The honourable judge has read the operative part. We don’t know the grounds for the grant of bail yet,” he added.Kamar said the prosecution presented its arguments over four to five days.“The court thought that it was a fit case for bail, and hence allowed it,” he added.Mahanta will be released after the bail order is submitted to the trial court and the necessary formalities are completed, Kamar said.The SIT has alleged that Mahanta, organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, manager Siddharth Sharma and band member Shekhar Jyoti Goswami were involved in a conspiracy linked to Garg’s death. The murder charge was invoked against all four, while Mahanta was additionally charged under Section 238 for alleged destruction of evidence.
