Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said a judicial commission will be formed to probe the death of the state’s cultural icon Zubeen Garg. The commission will be headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia of the Gauhati High Court, he said in a Facebook live. “We will form the Commission tomorrow. Now, we request all the people who have any information or videos related to Zubeen Garg’s death to come forward and depose in front of the commission,” said the Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, media reported that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax (I-T) Department are likely to join the Assam Police in investigating alleged organised financial crimes and the acquisition of benami properties by event manager Shyamkanu Mahanta, an accused in the death of Assam’s cultural icon Zubeen Garg. The CID of Assam Police has also unearthed more than 20-year-old financial irregularities allegedly committed by Mahanta during his earlier job at a non-banking financial company (NBFC).
The CID is currently probing the case of Garg’s death after more than 60 FIRs have been lodged across the state against Mahanta, the chief organiser of the North East India Festival, where the singer had gone to perform, and almost 10 others, including the icon’s manager Siddharth Sharma and band members Shekharjyoti Goswami and Amritprabha Mahanta. Special DGP Munna Prasad Gupta is heading a nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the untimely death of Garg in Singapore. Already, four people have been arrested and sent to 14 days of police remand each.
Shyamkanu is the younger brother of former DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, who is presently the Chief Information Commissioner of the Assam State Information Commission. Another elder brother of his is Nani Gopal Mahanta, who was the Education Advisor to CM Himanta Biswa Sarma before becoming the Vice Chancellor of Gauhati University.
A court in Assam on Friday sent Zubeen Garg’s band members Goswami and Mahanta to 14 days of police remand in connection with the death of the singer-composer. “The interrogation of all four arrested accused is underway. I cannot share anything more at this moment,” said SIT chief MP Gupta.
The duo was present on the yacht in Singapore, where Zubeen died on September 19 while swimming in the sea. Police have already invoked murder charges against Zubeen’s manager Siddharth Sharma and festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, who were nabbed from Delhi on Wednesday. Both of them were arrested at Delhi airport.
