E-Paper
Zubeen Garg's manager, Singapore fest organiser arrested days after his death
The Singapore fest organiser was arrested on his arrival at Delhi airport, and Zubeen Garg's manager was arrested from an apartment in Gurugram.
Zubeen Garg’s manager Siddhartha Sharma and festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta have been arrested in Delhi, police said. The duo has been taken to custody and are under investigation for Garg's death, who died in Singapore while swimming in sea without a life jacket.
Mahanta was arrested on his arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi from Singapore while Sharma was arrested from an apartment in Gurugram, news agency PTI reported.
The duo was brought to Guwahati early on Wednesday morning, a senior police official told PTI. The Assam government had constituted a 10-member SIT, led by Special DGP M P Gupta, to investigate the singer's death in Singapore due to drowning in the sea on September 19. The SIT issued notices to several people, including Mahanta, Sharma and members of Singapore Assam Association and those who had gone to Singapore for the festival to appear before it and record their statements.
Earlier, fans had attacked Sharma's house in Guwahati and clashed with the police over the singer's death. The cops had detained another musician who reportedly accompanied Garg on his yacht trip in Singapore, after which the singer drowned. Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, the musician detained, is reportedly a long-time band member of Garg. Polic had been looking for Mahanta and Sharma and raided there houses last week, but were not found there.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had given an ultimatum to Garg's manager and the festival organiser to make their statements before October 6.
“As the Durga Puja festival will begin, we don’t want them to come right now. But after Dashami, they have to come. They must come to Guwahati on October 6 and present their statements,” he said in a Facebook live video.
“If they do not want to present themselves before the CID, which has been probing the incidents leading to Garg’s death by drowning in the sea in Singapore on September 19. They can approach the court," he said.
Zubeen Garg died on September 19 in Singapore, where he was scheduled to perform. His death certificate from a hospital in Singapore says he drowned, but Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said a postmortem will reveal more details in his death.
