Zubeen Garg Death: Assam Police file murder charges against singer's manager and festival organizer

Assam police filed murder charges against Zubeen Garg’s manager, Siddharth Sharma, and organizer of the festival, Shyamkanu Mahanta, related to the death of the singer last month in Singapore, Pti reports. The two individuals were arrested in Delhi on Wednesday and taken to Guwahati. Munna Prasad Gupta, the special DGP of the Department of Criminal Investigation (CID) of the Assam police, told reporters that their interrogation was underway, to a court order to keep them in custody for 14 days. “The investigation is underway, and I can’t share much detail. We have now added Article 103 of the BNS in the FIR,” Pti quoted. Article 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relates to the penalties for murder. Police said on Wednesday that Sharma and Mahanta are facing charges of various divisions of the BNS, including accusations that he did not cause death in other ways and negligence on murder, criminal conspiracy. Mahanta is the younger brother of Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, the former DGP who now serves as the Chief Information Commissioner of the Assam State Information Commission. His older brother is Nani Gopal Mahanta, who was the education adviser of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma before becoming the vice -chancellor of Gauhati University. The CID is investigating Garg’s death, as more than 60 Fir’s nationwide has been filed against Mahanta and about ten others, including the manager of the singer. Mahanta was the chief organizer of the northeastern India festival in Singapore, where the singer performed. Gupta said Singapore’s autopsy report will be given to Garg’s family once all formalities are done. “The Singaporean authorities also conducted their investigation. The autopsy report of them will be shared directly with the family according to the protocol. According to our information, they have already contacted Garg’s family and will share the report soon,” the report cited. The DGP said on the second post-mortem conducted in Guwahati, the government was awaiting the report on the Viscera sample, which was sent to the Central Forensic Laboratory (CFL) in Delhi. “Once the viscera report has been received, I think the post-mortem report of the Gauhati Medical College and the hospital is ready and available to us,” Gupta said. Garg allegedly died on September 19 under mysterious conditions in Singapore while swimming in the sea. He traveled to Singapore to take part in the 4th Northeast -Indian festival, arranged by Mahanta and his business. Assam police have set up a special investigative team (Sit) to investigate Garg’s sudden death Singapore. Gupta, who leads the SIT, said that a team will travel to Singapore to gather evidence and other property details as soon as it has received approval from the government country. “Our team is ready to go to Singapore. There are some formalities to be done. We have sent the request through the right channel, and it will take some time. Once they have notified us, our team will go,” he said. The central government has activated the mutual Treaty for Legal Aid (MLAT) with Singapore to seek cooperation in the investigation of the singer’s death in Singapore. (With input from agencies.)