Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday announced that a judicial commission will be formed to probe the death of singer Zubeen Garg. The commission will be headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia of the Gauhati High Court.
Speaking in a Facebook Live, Sarma said the government is inviting anyone with information or videos related to Garg’s death to depose before the commission. “Those who had shared different information related to Zubeen’s death on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, it is their duty to submit affidavits in front of the commission,” he said. The government has also requested members of the Assam Association of Singapore, who were with Garg on the day of his death, to provide their statements.
Zubeen Garg died in Singapore on September 19 while swimming off St John’s Island. He had travelled to perform at the fourth edition of the North East India Festival, organised by Shyamkanu Mahanta and his company.
The case, which is currently being investigated by the Assam CID, has seen more than 60 FIRs filed across the state against Mahanta and nearly 10 others. Police have already arrested four people, including Mahanta and Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma, who were booked under murder charges earlier this week after being arrested in Delhi. Both are in CID custody for 14 days.
On Friday, two of Garg’s band members — Shekharjyoti Goswami and Amritprabha Mahanta — were also sent to 14-day police remand. The two had been present on the yacht in Singapore when Garg died. Three other members of the festival organising team — Pankaj Adhikari, Pritam Talukdar and Krishanu Das — were summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for interrogation.
Meanwhile, sources told PTI that the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department are likely to join the investigation into alleged financial irregularities linked to Mahanta. Officials from both agencies have already visited the CID headquarters. Documents seized during raids at Mahanta’s residence included multiple PAN cards in the name of the same firm, nearly 30 stamp seals of different companies and government officials, and records related to benami properties.
CID officials have also unearthed older cases of alleged financial irregularities dating back to Mahanta’s tenure at the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd (NEDFi). According to investigators, loans worth more than Rs 14 crore were disbursed to DSS E-Connect Ltd in the early 2000s for call centres in Assam, but no project materialised, and the loan was later declared a non-performing asset.
Chief Minister Sarma confirmed that Garg’s wife Garima, has received the Singapore post-mortem report. A second post-mortem was conducted at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, and its findings are expected to be handed to her. “It is up to Garima whether she makes the post-mortem reports public or not,” Sarma said.
Outside the court, Garima said she has submitted all relevant documents and recorded her statement. “We need justice as soon as possible. That is my prayer to the judicial system. I want to know what exactly happened that we lost him. We will cooperate with the law,” she told reporters.
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