Late singer Zubeen Garg had gone to Singapore to attend the North East India Festival last month. His death, while swimming in the sea, on September 19 has led to multiple arrests by the Assam police as the probe in the case furthers.
Following Garg’s death, more than 60 first information reports (FIRs) had been filed in Assam, including one by Garg’s family, against the chief organiser of the festival Shyamkanu Mahanata and the singer’s manager Siddharth Sharma.
All the FIRs were later clubbed and the case was handed over to the CID, which lodged a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and death by negligence.
The Singapore authorities had conducted a post-mortem and a probe after Garg’s death, with his death certificate mentioning ‘drowning’ as the cause. Another post-mortem was conducted in Guwahati on September 23 following public demand. The reports of both autopsies have not been made public yet.
Zubeen Garg’s cousin, Assam police officer, arrested | Latest developments
• The special investigation team (SIT) of Assam police on Wednesday arrested Garg’s close relative Sandipan Garg, who is also an Assam Police Service (APS) officer. Following the arrest, Sandipan, posted as deputy superintendent (law and order) for Kamrup district, was also suspended from service with immediate effect.
• The CID had questioned Sandipan – son of Garg’s paternal uncle – for four days before arresting him. He was produced in the court of chief judicial magistrate of Kamrup (Metropolitan) district and remanded to seven days in police custody.
• Sandipan is the fifth arrest in the case. The police had earlier arrested NEIF organiser Mahanta, Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma, his bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, and singer Amritprava Mahanta in connection with the late singer’s death.
• Special DGP (CID) Assam Police, MP Gupta, also said Wednesday that fresh summonses had been issued to 10 NRIs from Assam who were based in Singapore. Garg had died while taking part in a yacht party organised by a few Assamese NRIs in Singapore.
• Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said that central agencies like enforcement directorate (ED) and income tax (IT) department would probe allegations of financial irregularities against the festival organiser, Shyamkanu Mahanta.
About the Author
