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After cousin and manager, Zubeen Garg's security staff arrested amid death probe
This comes a day after Zubeen's cousin Sandipan Garg was arrested in the high-profile case.
The investigating team in singer Zubeen Garg's death reportedly arrested his security staff on Friday. This comes a day after Zubeen's cousin Sandipan Garg was arrested in the high-profile case. Sandipan was an Assam Police Service (APS) officer posted in the Kamrup district.
News agency ANI reported that the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the Criminal Investigating Department (CID) arrested two Personal Security Officers (PSOs) of the late singer, namely Nandeswar Bora and Paresh Baishya. The duo had been deployed with Zubeen for a long time.
Also read: 'Zubeen loved him, was always proud': Singer's wife reacts to his cousin arrest
Earlier, Zubeen's manager Siddhartha Sharma and organiser of the Singapore festival Shyamkanu Mahanta were arrested from Delhi in connection with the case last week.
Zubeen's death and arrests in the case
Zubeen died on September 19 after a swimming accident in Singapore and his cousin Sandipan was present at the scene of his death.
Reports quoted eyewitnesses saying that Zubeen's manager didn't let anyone help him when he was drowning and gasping for breath. The witness emphasised that Zubeen Garg was an expert swimmer and therefore, could not have died due to drowning.
Also read: Zubeen Garg case: Who are the five people to have been arrested for singer's death
Meanwhile, Sandipan has been remanded into a 7-day police custody, and his is the fifth arrest in Zubeen Garg's death probe. "Today we arrested Sandipan following his interrogation. Since an investigation is underway, I can't reveal more than that," special DGP (CID) Assam Police, MP Gupta, who is heading the 10-member SIT, said.
Zubeen was in Singapore for the celebration of the 60th year of India Singapore Diplomatic Relations and to celebrate India ASEAN Year of Tourism, North East India Festival.
The mega event was to be held 19-21 September. However, all the events were cancelled following his death.
Also read: Zubeen Garg was poisoned in Singapore, arrested bandmate's startling allegations
The mystery in Zubeen's death further deepened after Zubeen's bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami alleged that he was poisoned to death in Singapore.
Post mortem reports
Two separate postmortems were conducted to probe the circumstances under which the iconic singer died. One was conducted in Singapore and another at Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).
However, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the postmortem report will not be made public as it might hamper court proceedings, but anyone interested in seeing the report can visit the Crime Investigation Department (CID) office with prior approval to read it.
The state government has sent Zubeen Garg’s viscera samples to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in New Delhi to determine whether the singer was poisoned.
Sarma said that the government expects to receive the viscera test report from CFSL on October 10, which will clarify if poison was involved in the singer’s death.
On Goswami's allegations of poisoning, Sarma said that he is himself is an accused in the case and might be trying to save himself by blaming others. “He is not a common person but an accused under investigation, so we cannot blindly trust him. We are also examining the poisoning angle, and it will be clear by October 11,” Sarma said.
