The investigation into Assamese singer Zubeen Garg’s death took a fresh turn after his manager Siddharth Sharma and the North East India Festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta were arrested today.
While Mahanta was held around midnight at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi shortly after returning from Singapore, Sharma was arrested at a Gurugram toll plaza around 1am on the way from Rajasthan to Delhi. Some reports suggest that Sharma was arrested from an apartment in Gurugram.
Garg, 52, died on September 19 after reportedly drowning at Singapore’s Lazarus Island. He had travelled to Singapore to perform at the North East India Festival, which was later cancelled following his death. Garg was laid to rest with full state honours in Assam’s Kamrup district on September 23.
Mahanta and Sharma were flown together to Guwahati under police protection and produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate. They have been remanded to police custody for 14 days.
Who is Shyamkanu Mahanta?
Both Mahanta and Sharma had lookout notices issued through the Interpol against them last week.
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The Assam Police initiated a separate investigation against Mahanta, who is an accused in Garg’s death, for his alleged involvement in organised financial crimes and acquiring properties by money laundering, news agency PTI reported.
Mahanta is the younger brother of former DGP and the incumbent chief information commissioner of the Assam State Information Commission, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta. Another elder brother is Nani Gopal Mahanta, who was the education adviser to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and is now the vice chancellor of Gauhati University.
According to News18, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) seized “incriminating" documents and items from Mahanta’s house, which included multiple PAN cards issued in the name of a single firm, nearly 30 stamp seals linked to various companies and government offices, as well as papers connected to several alleged benami properties.
The 10-member special investigation team (SIT), headed by Special DGP MP Gupta, tasked to probe Garg’s death had earlier seized several documents from Sharma’s home in Guwahati. He was under surveillance in Rajasthan but gave cops the slip on September 25 after switching his SIM card. But he was eventually traced and apprehended, and Garg's mobile phone was reportedly recovered from him.
How did Zubeen Garg die?
While initial reports said that Garg died in a scuba diving incident, his wife Garima Saikia later clarified that he suffered a seizure while swimming.
Interestingly, the Singapore authorities, in their post-mortem report, listed drowning as the cause of death. Howevr, widespread protests and allegations of foul play led to a second autopsy, in Assam.
