The mystery around singer Zubeen Garg’s death took a sharper turn on Thursday with the arrest of two more people close to him — co-musician musician Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and co-singer Amritprabha Mahanta. Both were present in Singapore when Garg died, and police say they have now found enough evidence to take them into custody, as per a report by news agency PTI.
“We have found some evidence against them. So, to enquire further, their arrest was necessary,” an officer told reporters.
With these arrests, four people are now behind bars in connection with the case. On Wednesday, Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma and event organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta — the man behind the Northeast India Festival where Garg had gone to perform — were taken in and charged under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy, and causing death by negligence.
Special DGP (CID) Munna Prasad Gupta confirmed that both Sharma and Mahanta are in 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 deals with murder, carrying punishment of death or life imprisonment, along with a fine.
The case has wide political overtones. Shyamkanu is the younger brother of former Assam DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, now the state’s Chief Information Commissioner. Another elder brother, Nani Gopal Mahanta, served as Education Advisor to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma before taking charge as Gauhati University’s vice chancellor.
The CID’s probe has expanded rapidly, fuelled by more than 60 FIRs filed across Assam after Garg’s sudden death. The 52-year-old singer died in Singapore on September 19 while swimming in the sea. He had travelled there for the festival organised by Mahanta’s company.
Gupta, who heads the Special Investigation Team (SIT), said the probe is moving on multiple tracks. “Our team is ready to go to Singapore. Some formalities are pending. We have sent the request through the proper channel under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, and once we get approval, the team will leave,” he said.
Singaporean authorities, meanwhile, have completed their own autopsy. Gupta said the report will be handed directly to Garg’s family. “They have already contacted the family and will share it soon,” he added. A second autopsy conducted in Guwahati is still awaiting the viscera analysis from the Central Forensic Laboratory in Delhi.
Investigators are also questioning several others. Members of the Assam Association in Singapore, who were involved in organising the festival, have been issued notices through the Indian High Commission. Even Garg’s cousin, Deputy SP Sandipan Garg, who was with him during the incident, has been interrogated.
Beyond the death probe, police are also digging into Mahanta’s financial dealings. The CID says raids at his residence last week turned up “incriminating documents” — multiple PAN cards under the same firm, dozens of stamp seals of companies and government offices, and paperwork linked to alleged benami properties.
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With inputs from PTI
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