NEW DELHI, Oct 15: Prohibitory orders were imposed after several people were injured in Assam on Wednesday when a mob who had gathered outside the Baksa district jail threw stones at a convoy bringing the five accused arrested in connection with the death of cultural icon Zubeen Garg, to the newly constructed prison complex 100km from Guwahati, police said.
Police said warning shots were fired in the air to disperse the mob running into several hundreds, and prohibitory orders were imposed in the district’s Mushalpur town and around the jail. Mobile internet has also been snapped across the Baksa district to help control the situation.
“We had to resort to force to control the situation, and in the evening it has returned to normal in the areas in and around the district jail. Additional forces have been deployed to maintain law and order. I would appeal to all to not resort to violence and take law into their own hands,” Akhilesh Singh, inspector general of police (law and order) said.
Police officers said vehicles were torched and many people were injured, but refused to give details. Journalists who were at the spot said angry protesters torched three police vehicles and one from a private TV channel.
Assam Police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the agitated mob as few people, including a policewoman, were injured and glass panes of vehicles were smashed in stone throwing. A large number of protesters had gathered outside the prison in Mushalpur area, and as the convoy of vehicles carrying the accused for being lodged in the prison arrived, they started pelting the vehicles with stones, he said.
Some even demanded that the accused be handed over to the public to ensure “justice for Zubeen.” Although the convoy managed to enter the jail premises, the protesters scuffled with the policemen deployed at the gates as they attempted to breach the cordon, the officer said.
Despite the requests of the policemen to the protesters to move back, they kept pressing forward, following which the law enforcers resorted to lathi-charge to control the situation, he said. Senior police officers camped in the area and security has been heightened in and around the jail premises, he said.
Earlier in the day, North East India Festival (NEIF) chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer’s manager Siddhartha Sharma, his cousin and police officer Sandipan Garg and his personal security officers Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya were remanded to judicial custody by the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate after their police remand ended.
The court, expressing concern for their safety, also ruled that they should be sent to a jail where there were less prisoners. Accordingly, the authorities decided to shift all five to Baksa Jail at Mushalpur, which was inaugurated two months ago and there are still no prisoners there, an official said.
Assam’s cultural icon, Zubeen Garg, died in Singapore while swimming in the sea on September 19. Mahanta and Sharma were arrested on October 1, 2025 in Delhi. The duo were given police custody for 14 days, which ended on Tuesday. Zubeen Garg’s cousin and Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg was arrested on October 8 and remanded to seven days of police custody. Serving as the in-charge of the co-district superintendent of police of Boko-Chaygaon in Kamrup district, Sandipan was suspended from office on the day of his arrest.
The police officer had accompanied the singer to Singapore and was present on the yacht during Zubeen’s last moments. The singer’s two PSOs were arrested on October 10 and were remanded to five-day police custody.
(Manas Dasgupta)