Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday appealed to thhe “Assamese people” present on the yacht during Zubeen Garg's last moments to come forward, adding that it is not possible for the state police to go to Singapore to probe the singer's “mysterious death”.
Speaking to reporters after meeting singer Zubeen Garg's family in Guwahati, Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that Assam Police will not be able to "join the dots" unless the Assamese people, who were present on the yacht at the time of his death in the Southeast Asian nation on September 19, join the probe.
"Our entire concern now is whether the people living in Singapore will come or not. If they do not come, we will not be able to complete the inquiry. They were the main people behind the yacht trip," news agency PTI quoted Himanta Biswa Sarma as saying.
"Assam Police cannot go to Singapore, so it cannot take up the investigation there. They are in Singapore, so it is not under my jurisdiction. Unless they come there, nobody will be able to join the dots," Assam CM Sarma added.
CM Sarma also posted a video of his interaction with reporters on his X. “State government of Assam has constituted a judicial commission under the chairmanship of sitting judge of Gauhati high court Soumitra Saikia so that anyone who wants to speak or who wants to provide us with any information relating to the mysterious death of Zubeen, they get separate platform. Also, the sitting judge will have an opportunity to oversee the CID proof,” Himanta Sarma could be heard saying in the video.
{{/usCountry}}CM Sarma also posted a video of his interaction with reporters on his X. “State government of Assam has constituted a judicial commission under the chairmanship of sitting judge of Gauhati high court Soumitra Saikia so that anyone who wants to speak or who wants to provide us with any information relating to the mysterious death of Zubeen, they get separate platform. Also, the sitting judge will have an opportunity to oversee the CID proof,” Himanta Sarma could be heard saying in the video.
{{/usCountry}}“So it will be a complete independent commission. In Assam, never before a sitting judge has been entrusted with a responsibility of inquiring any issue. So this is the first instance in the state of Assam, and I hope that we'll be able to bring everything into the public domain. Once investigation is complete,” Sarma added.
Zubeen Garg died on September 19 while swimming in the sea in Singapore, where he had gone to the Southeast Asian nation to attend the 4th edition of the North East India Festival, organised by Shyamkanu Mahanta and his company.
Bandmate's explosive claim
A nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) is currently probing the death of Zubeen Garg, who was cremated on September 23 with state honours and a massive turn up of fans.
Amid questions over the circumstances around Zubeen Garg's death, his bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami made a massive allegation that the singer was poisoned in Singapore, according to official documents with the police cited in a PTI report on Saturday.
The Assam Police earlier this week slapped murder charge on Zubeen Garg's manager Siddharth Sharma and festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta in connection with the death of the singer in Singapore.
The two were arrested from Delhi on Wednesday.
The Assam Police on Saturday handed over the second post-mortem report of singer Zubeen Garg to his wife Garima Saikia Garg, who returned the report of to the cops, saying that it is not her "personal document" and the investigators will be the best judge to decide whether it should be made public or not.
The report of the first post-mortem conducted in Singapore was given to her on Thursday.