AJP Flags CM Himanta's 'Family's Role' in Zubeen Garg Death Probe

Dozens of people who had come out to the street demanding a probe into Garg's death are still behind bars, some are also charged under the National Security Act.

The Wire Staff

Dozens of people who had come out to the street demanding a probe into Garg's death are still behind bars, some are also charged under the National Security Act.

ajp flags cm himanta s family s role in zubeen garg death probe

Artists paint a mural of deceased singer Zubeen Garg in Guwahati on September 27. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Even as dozens of celebrated Assamese musician Zubeen Garg’s fans are behind bars for demanding ‘justice’ for their icon, the state’s local party, the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), has alleged that during the searches conducted by the Assam Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) at the residence of Shyamkanu Mahanta, the organiser of the North East Festival in Singapore, “individuals close to the chief minister were present” and that “some crucial documents were deliberately hidden to protect Riniki Bhuyan Sarma,” Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.

Mahanta’s house in Guwahati was searched by the SIT a week ago, along with that of Garg’s band member Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and his manager Siddharth Sharma who had accompanied him to attend the festival in Singapore. Garg passed away on September 19 at St John’s Island in the country during an outing.

 Talking to reports in Guwahati on October 4, AJP secretary Chittaranjan Basumatary said cheif minister Sarma is politicising the issue. Adding, “Zubeen Garg’s family is now even afraid to receive the post-mortem report. This itself reveals how politicised and pressured the situation has become.”

Earlier in the day, Garg’s wife Garima Saikia Garg was handed over the report of the autopsy conducted on his body in Singapore by the SIT. As per media reports, the autopsy report had said drowning as the cause of his death, and ruled out foul play. However, the wife returned the report to the Assam Police’s investigating team stating, “I don't have much knowledge about law and the post-mortem report is not my personal property, so I have returned it to the investigators.”

Basumatary alleged that “political interference extended beyond the investigation,” and also told reporters that “attempts were made to weaken Zubeen Garg’s influence through agents planted around him.”

 “The government must explain why the chief minister’s family repeatedly interfered in this case, why those responsible have not yet been brought to justice…”  

As per local reports, the AJP leader, urging the Supreme Court to constitute a commission to “uncover the truth behind Garg’s death,” also accused chief minister Sarma of allowing the festival organiser Mahanta “to gain undue control over cultural syndicates after coming to power”. The Mahanta family is considered extremely close to Sarma.

Since Garg’s demise, questions have been raised on social media and elsewhere in Assam about not only Sarma’s close links with the Mahanta family but there were allegations also about business ties with the chief minister’s wife. No clarification has come from either side about the matter yet.

Among dozens of FIRs lodged across the state seeking ‘justice for Zubeen’ is also a complaint against Sarma’s wife. That FIR was filed by sculptor Rudrankur Hazarika in Guwahati. However, Hazarika was detained by Bhagadattapur police station from Garg's residence on September 30 instead. He was detained by state police overnight before releasing him.

Now, dozens of people who had come out to the street demanding a probe into Garg's death are still behind bars, some are also charged under the National Security Act (NSA).

This article went live on October fifth, two thousand twenty five, at seventeen minutes past three in the afternoon.

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