Zubeen’s drummer, co-singer sent to SIT custody for 14 days

Guwahati: Zubeen Garg’s drummer Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and his co-singer Amritprabha Mahanta were remanded in 14-day SIT custody by the court of the chief judicial magistrate here on Friday.

The duo was arrested by the SIT on Thursday evening following a six-day interrogation, a day after the organiser of the North East India Festival in Singapore, Shyamkanu Mahanta, and Zubeen’s manager and an employee of a Mumbai-based talent management company, Siddharth Sharma were taken into custody.


Mahanta was nabbed by the Bureau of Immigration at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi in the early hours of Wednesday and handed over to the SIT, while the SIT traced and detained Siddharth from Gurgaon on the same day. Later, they were brought to Assam and arrested. They are also currently in 14-day custody with the SIT.

Charges of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and causing death by negligence were initially slapped against the accused. However, the charge of murder under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, was later added based on the interrogation.

Investigators revealed that Shekhar and Amritprabha were in Singapore at the time of Zubeen’s death. Officials said the foreign trip and its timing would be examined carefully to determine if it bore any relevance to the circumstances surrounding the singer’s demise.

Besides these arrested accused, the SIT has also interrogated actor Nishita Goswami and a police officer, Sandipon Garg, who is Zubeen’s cousin. Both were in Singapore at the time of the singer’s death.

The SIT on Sept 26 issued summons to Shyamkanu, Siddharth, and 11 others related to the Zubeen Garg death case, asking them to appear before the investigating officers by Oct 6. However, the next day, the SIT issued a lookout circular against Shyamkanu and Siddharth, who remained absconding since Zubeen’s death on Sept 19.

Zubeen’s wife, Garima, also filed an FIR on Sept 27 with the CID and said Siddharth and Shekhar, who were with Zubeen on the yacht on Sept 19, should not have allowed Zubeen to swim in the sea. She said she was not informed by Siddharth about what exactly happened with Zubeen on Sept 19 in Singapore, even though she attempted several phone calls. She raised questions before the media about the security and medical arrangements made by Shyamkanu for Zubeen.

Police officials maintained that the investigation is still at a sensitive stage and stressed the importance of gathering corroborative evidence before drawing any conclusions.