Assam Court Orders Unfreezing of Accused’s Accounts in Zubeen Garg Death Case Citing Procedural Failures

A Guwahati sessions court has directed the Assam Police to unfreeze the bank accounts and credit cards of Shyamkanu Mahanta, a primary accused in the case involving the death of superstar singer Zubeen Garg. The court observed that the investigating agency failed to follow mandatory legal procedures under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), specifically noting that the police did not report the freezing of accounts to the jurisdictional Magistrate as required. The ruling comes as a relief to Mahanta, who argued that the prolonged freeze caused severe financial hardship and that no evidence suggested the accounts contained “proceeds of crime.”

Shyamkanu Mahanta, the organizer of a festival Garg attended in Singapore prior to his death in September 2025, faces charges including murder and criminal conspiracy. While the prosecution argued that the accounts were frozen due to suspected financial improprieties and pointed to a parallel investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the court clarified that the ED’s money laundering probe is an independent matter with no bearing on this specific procedural lapse. Despite the unfreezing order, the court noted that the police maintain the right to conduct further investigations as the case continues to move toward trial.