GUWAHATI, Oct. 5 — Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the police investigation into singer Zubeen Garg’s death cannot be completed unless Assamese nationals who were with him in Singapore join the probe.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Garg’s family, Sarma said that key witnesses from the Assamese community in Singapore must return to India to help investigators “join the dots” in the case.
“Our entire concern now is whether the people living in Singapore will come or not. If they do not come, we will not be able to complete the inquiry. They were the main people behind the yacht trip,” the chief minister said.
Garg, a cultural icon of Assam, died under mysterious circumstances on September 19 while swimming in the sea off Singapore. He had travelled there to attend the fourth edition of the North East India Festival, organised by Shyamkanu Mahanta and his company. A number of Assamese community members had accompanied him on a private yacht trip at the time of the incident.
“Assam Police cannot go to Singapore, so it cannot take up the investigation there. They (the Assamese people) are in Singapore, and it is not under my jurisdiction. Unless they come here, nobody will be able to join the dots,” Sarma said.
The state Crime Investigation Department (CID), which is handling the probe, has already issued notices to several members of the Assam Association in Singapore, asking them to appear before investigators by October 6.
“Their parents stay in Assam. So, we, the people of Assam, must put pressure on the parents to ask their wards to come here for the probe,” Sarma added, urging collective public support.
More than 60 FIRs have been filed across the state against festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, along with about 10 others, including his manager Siddharth Sharma and band members Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amrit Prabha Mahanta. All four have been arrested and are currently in 14-day police remand.
Sarma said that while some of those in Singapore have cited “personal problems” for not being able to travel, they still bear moral responsibility to cooperate. “To bring the people concerned through law is a different matter, but it will be sooner if there is public pressure on them,” he noted. “If they don’t come by October 6, we will have to enter another cycle,” he added, without elaborating.
Asked about reports that drummer Shekhar Jyoti Goswami told police the singer was poisoned, Sarma cautioned against speculation. “Many things will be spoken about during the investigation. The poisoning statement is not from the police, but from one accused,” he said. “Now, why has he made that statement — to safeguard himself or to blame someone else — these things will be revealed during the investigation.”
The chief minister said that the viscera report is expected by October 10, and the findings will be known the next day.
On Friday, the Assam government constituted a one-man judicial commission, headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia of the Gauhati High Court, to probe Garg’s death. Sarma said the sitting judge will also oversee the CID’s ongoing investigation to ensure fairness and transparency.
“It is a kind of body that will also examine the evidence. If the commission finds we are doing something wrong, it will act strictly against us. It will be a completely independent inquiry,” he said, noting that this is the first time in Assam that a sitting High Court judge has been entrusted with such a task.
