NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Even as the Singapore have ruled out any “foul play” in the sudden death of the noted singer Zubeen Garg’s in Singapore, the Assam Police have slapped murder charge on his manager Siddharth Sharma and festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, a senior officer said on Thursday.
The two were arrested from Delhi on Wednesday.
Munna Prasad Gupta, the Special DGP of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Assam Police, told reporters that interrogation of the two arrested persons has been going on after a Court in New Delhi remanded them to a 14-day police custody.
“The investigation is going on, and I cannot share much detail. We have added Section 103 of the BNS in the FIR now,” he said. Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) deals with the punishment for murder. It mandates that whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and a fine.
The police on Wednesday had said Mr Sharma and Mr Mahanta were booked under various sections of the BNS for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy and causing death by negligence. Mr Mahanta is the younger brother of former DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, who is presently the Chief Information Commissioner of the Assam State Information Commission.
His elder brother Nani Gopal Mahanta was the education advisor to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma before he became the Vice Chancellor of Gauhati University.
Meanwhile, the Singapore Police Force has confirmed that singer-musician Zubeen Garg died due to drowning while swimming off a Singapore island and not while scuba diving as reported earlier, media reports said on Thursday. Assam-based Garg, who was in Singapore for the 60th year of India-Singapore Diplomatic Relations and to celebrate India ASEAN Year of Tourism, North East India Festival, died on September 19.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said they have extended a copy of the autopsy report, along with its preliminary findings on Garg’s death, to the High Commission of India, upon its request, media report said. The Indian High Commission says it has received the report. According to a source, the report says that Garg died due to drowning.
The SPF had earlier ruled out foul play in the death of the 52-year-old singer. “In the case of Zubeen Garg, a coroner’s inquiry could possibly shed light on the sequence of events leading up to his drowning,” the Singapore media said. Though it said there was no statutory definition for the term “foul play,” SPF’s initial statement could be understood to mean that they do not suspect that Garg was murdered or died as a result of some criminal violence.
On September 19, Garg was at St. John’s Island, off Singapore, from where he was pulled out of the water unconscious and rushed to Singapore General Hospital. But died that same day. According to earlier media reports, the iconic singer was with more than a dozen people on an unnamed yacht on September 19 when tragedy struck. A video posted on X on September 20 showed him jumping into the water for a swim while wearing a life vest.
But according to media reports, a person who posted the video, which has since garnered over 6,00,000 views, said Garg took off his life jacket minutes later and jumped into the water again. The SPF had advised members of the public in Singapore not to share any videos or images related to Garg’s death. According to various media reports, Garg’s death certificate, issued by a Singapore hospital, lists the cause of death as drowning.
Garg’s manager Siddhartha Sharma and festival chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta were arrested from Delhi on Wednesday in connection with the singer’s death, the Assam Police said. They were taken to Guwahati, where the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate remanded them to 14-day police custody.
The duo were initially was booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy and causing death by negligence, a senior police officer had said.
Zubeen’s wife Garima Saikia Garg, who is in Jorhat for the 13th day rituals of ‘Mangolik Karya’ of the deceased singer, told reporters that she was satisfied that the duo had been brought to Assam as “we are all waiting to know what happened to him in his last moments.” Ms Garima said she has full faith in the investigating team and hoped that they would soon know what exactly happened in Singapore. The Assam government had constituted a 10-member SIT to investigate the singer’s death in Singapore.
(Manas Dasgupta)
