01 October,2025 11:14 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Zubeen Garg
Ya Ali singer Zubeen Garg's untimely demise has sent shockwaves across the nation. While Singapore authorities claimed the case of his death was due to drowning, Assam CM initiated a probe after finding something suspicious. Zubeen's family even filed an FIR against his manager, Siddharth Sharma, and festival organisers. As per the latest update, they have now been arrested and remanded to 14 days' police custody.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the death of Assamese singer Zubeen Garg has arrested North East India Festival (NEIF) chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and the singer's manager Siddhartha Sharma, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
Mahanta was taken into custody at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport soon after his return from Singapore, where the festival was being held. Sharma, on the other hand, was apprehended from a residential apartment in Gurugram late Tuesday night. Both were flown to Guwahati in the early hours of Wednesday and are currently being interrogated by the SIT, police sources said.
Meanwhile, as per PTI, Zubeen's wife, Garima Saikia Garg, who is in Jorhat for the 13th-day rituals of the deceased singer, told reporters that she was satisfied the duo had been brought to Assam, saying, "We are all waiting to know what happened to him in his last moments." Garima added that she has full faith in the investigating team and hoped they will soon find out exactly what happened in Singapore.
The 52-year-old Assamese music icon died on September 19 following a scuba diving accident in Singapore. Zubeen Garg had reportedly experienced breathing troubles while swimming during an outing on a yacht, where he had travelled as a cultural ambassador of the Northeast India Festival.
The Assam government had constituted a 10-member SIT, led by Special DGP M.P. Gupta, to investigate the singer's death. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said that a 'lookout notice' through Interpol had been issued against Mahanta and Sharma, asking them to appear before the CID by October 6.
The Government of Assam had also submitted a formal request to the Ministry of Home Affairs to invoke the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with Singapore in connection with Zubeen's demise. With the two key figures now under arrest, the SIT is expected to intensify its probe to piece together the events that led to the singer's tragic death abroad. Further arrests have not been ruled out.
