Zubeen Garg death case: Manager and organiser held in Delhi

Artists paint a mural of deceased singer Zubeen Garg, in Guwahati. PIC/PTI

Zubeen Garg's manager Siddhartha Sharma and festival chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta were arrested from Delhi on Wednesday morning in connection with the singer's death in Singapore last month, Assam Police said.

The duo has been booked under various sections of the BNS for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy and causing death by negligence. Soon after their arrest, they were brought to Guwahati and produced before the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate's court, which sent them to 14 days' police custody.

Since courts are closed for Durga Puja, the hearing took place at the residence of the judge. Special DGP (CID) Munna Prasad Gupta said investigations into the singer's death will be "conducted in accordance with the law". He said a ‘lookout notice' through the Interpol had already been issued against both.

"On the basis of the notice, immigration authorities detained Mahanta when he arrived at Delhi airport from Singapore and handed him over to Assam Police," he said. Regarding Sharma, Gupta said, "We tracked his location to Delhi and Rajasthan. Last night, we tracked him near the Delhi-Haryana border and arrested him."

The state government recently banned Mahanta, the chief organiser of North East Festival, which Garg had gone to attend in Singapore before his death, from holding any function or event in the state. Zubeen's wife, Garima Saikia Garg, said she has full faith in the investigating team and hoped that now they will soon know what exactly happened. The Assam government had constituted a 10-member SIT to investigate the singer's death in Singapore allegedly due to "drowning" on September 19.

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