The heat is on: The impact of the Zubeen Garg death probe on Assam politics

Like most high-profile investigations in India, the probe into iconic singer and cultural icon Zubeen Garg’s mysterious death has all the possibility of getting entangled into a legal, political and administrative quagmire. Such a situation, while delaying justice, will also provide reprieve to Garg’s alleged murderers, if any.

As the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Assam Police’s CID intensified its investigation into the death of singer and Assamese cultural icon Zubeen Garg in Singapore on 19 September, it arrested musician Shekharjyoti Goswami and singer Amrit Prabha Mahanta on 2 October. "We have found some evidence against them. So, to enquire further, their arrest was necessary," an officer said.

The arrest of the duo followed that of the organiser of the North-East India Festival in Singapore, Shyamkanu Mahanta, and Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma on 1 October.

But the remand note for Goswami, leaked on 3 October, has added a new dimension to the case. The note (accessed by National Herald) is a statement of Goswami, recorded U/S 175 BNSS, where he said it was Shyamkanu Mahanta and Siddharth Sharma who conspired to murder the singer by making him drink alcohol laced with poison. The duo then went about passing off the murder as an accident, he alleges.

Goswami revealed that “prior to the death of Zubeen Garg, a conspiracy was formulated to portray his death as accidental. He stated that Shri Siddharth Sharma, who stayed with him in Room No. 3010 at Pan Pacific Hotel, Singapore, had displayed suspicious conduct”.

“During the critical moments when Shri Zubeen Garg was gasping for breath, almost drowning, Siddharth Sharma was heard shouting ‘Jabo de, jabo de’ (let him go, let him go),” Goswami revealed, emphasising that Zubeen Garg was an expert swimmer who had trained both him and Sharma, and therefore could not have died due to drowning. He alleged that “Shri Sharma and Shri Shyamkanu Mahanta had poisoned the victim and deliberately chosen a foreign venue to conceal their conspiracy”.

Goswami went on to say: “When Zubeen Garg was frothing by the mouth and nose, the accused Siddharth Sharma dismissed it as acid reflux and assured others there was nothing to worry about… instead of providing necessary medical facilities, he facilitated the early demise of Zubeen Garg.”

Statements from Amrit Prabha Mahanta (singer and member of the Singapore entourage) and Nishita Goswami (actor) corroborate that Siddharth Sharma facilitated Zubeen Garg's access to liquor and inappropriate company — and that he “failed to provide any satisfactory explanation regarding supply of liquor and women to the deceased prior to his death”.

Select portions of the note have been redacted in view of the sensitivities involved.

Although Goswami’s allegations, as recorded in the remand note, have to be corroborated by material evidence, they have added a new dimension to the investigation.

Sharma and Mahanta were earlier booked under the sections of the BNS dealing with ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’, criminal conspiracy and causing death by negligence. The CID has now added a murder charge against the duo. Speaking to the media, Munna Prasad Gupta, special DGP of the CID, said, “The investigation is going on, and I cannot share much detail. We have added Section 103 of the BNS in the FIR now.”

The accusations made in the remand note will have to corroborated by material evidence, post mortem and viscera reports. The CID is now in possession of two post mortem reports, one conducted in Singapore and the second at Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).

The CID tried to hand over the GMCH report to Garima Garg, wife of the deceased singer. But she returned it, saying, “I personally thought and took suggestions also. As the investigation is going on, I do not consider the report as my personal document.”

She said she was not sure whether making the report public would hamper the ongoing probe or not. “That is why I have returned the report. If it can be made public, then you will get it from them," she added.

Was she trying to distance herself from the investigation or the report, though? ZHer refusal to accept the post mortem report can spin out into a further strand of investigation and suspicion in the future. But till such time as Zubeen Garg’s viscera reports come in, the possibility of the singer being poisoned remains a mere allegation. However...

While the motive behind the alleged murder is yet to be established, questions are being raised as to why Shyamkanu Mahanta’s wife Anita Deka Mahanta has not yet been brought into the ambit of investigation, even though she was present in Singapore when Zubeen Garg died.

Anita Deka Mahanta has been visiting the CID office on a regular basis. There is also a question as to how only a single remand note, which squarely identifies Shyamkanu Mahanta and Siddharth Sharma as murderers (or the fall guys), got leaked.

Mahanta has already petitioned the Supreme Court, requesting transfer of the investigation to a central agency. He has alleged bias in the probe, having spoken of the ‘media trial’ and public threats impacting his safety and the fairness of the investigation.

Sensing the incident’s impact on public perception, Assam’s political parties are keeping up the pressure. On 3 October, the Congress took out a candlelight march in Sivasagar and Nalbari to demand a fast and fair investigation.

In addition to the CID probe, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has instituted a separate judicial inquiry under Justice Soumitra Saikia, sitting judge of Guwahati High Court.

“The chief minister is under pressure to ensure the probe in to Zubeen Garg’s death is fair or, at least, appears to be fair. Only if the judicial enquiry validates the police investigation by producing a similar result can the chief minister claim the investigation was impartial. Otherwise, the BJP will face an electoral setback in the 2026 elections,” explained a retired senior officer of the Assam Police, requesting anonymity.

Sourabh Sen is a Kolkata-based independent writer and commentator on politics, human rights and foreign affairs