Zubeen Garg death: Police add murder charge in FIR against singer's manager, festival organiser; probe intensifies

NEW DELHI: Assam Police on Thursday filed murder charges against late Assamese singer Zubeen Garg’s long-time manager and the organiser of the festival in Singapore where he died, a senior officer said.

Garg’s manager, Siddharth Sharma, and Shyamkanu Mahanta, the chief organiser of the North East India Festival, were arrested on Wednesday. Mahanta was apprehended at Delhi airport upon arrival from Singapore, while Sharma was taken into custody in Gurugram, Haryana. Both were flown under tight security to Guwahati, Assam, and a court remanded them to 14-day police custody.


“The investigation is ongoing, and I cannot share much detail. We have added Section 103 of the BNS in the FIR now,” Munna Prasad Gupta, Special DGP of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Assam Police, told reporters, according to PTI.

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Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) pertains to the punishment for murder, prescribing either death or life imprisonment along with a fine. Sharma and Mahanta have also been booked under sections relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy, and causing death by negligence.

Zubeen Garg, a cultural icon in Assam, passed away on September 19, a day before the North East India Festival was scheduled to begin. He was in Singapore to mark the 60th year of India-Singapore diplomatic relations and celebrate the India-ASEAN Year of Tourism through the festival. The incident occurred at St. John’s Island, where Garg was pulled out of the water unconscious and rushed to a hospital, but succumbed the same day.

Meanwhile, his wife, Garima Saikia Garg, told reporters she was "satisfied" that Sharma and Mahanta had been brought to Assam, adding, “We are all waiting to know what happened to him in his last moments.” She expressed "full faith" in the investigative team, hoping they would soon establish the exact sequence of events.

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The BJP-led Assam government has constituted a 10-member team to probe the singer’s death. The opposition Congress had also called for an investigation, suggesting it be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

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