APW poses queries to panel
Staff Reporter
Guwahati: Apart from the SIT, the one-man judicial commission, appointed to probe the death of Zubeen Garg, also continued to record statements of individuals and organizations willing to depose before the panel to aid in the investigation.
On Thursday, the SIT quizzed Siddharth’s brother Dipak Sharma for the second time, following summons issued to him. The SIT also recorded the statements of office-bearers of Bajali’s Bhogeswar Kali Mandir Samiti.
Following the recording of their statements, the office-bearers of Bhogeswar Kali Mandir Samiti told the media, “We organized the 300th year Jayanti of Bhogeswar Kali Mandir from January 14 to 20. On January 19, we had held a programme of Zubeen Garg. On behalf of Zubeenda, Siddharth Sharma made an agreement for payment of Rs 9 lakh. While we gave Siddharth Rs 1 lakh by cheque, the rest of the Rs 8 lakh was taken by him in cash. We gave our temple’s bank statement to the SIT.”
For the second time, an official of the AG office came today to examine the details of transactions gathered by the SIT from different programme organizers.
Meanwhile, the one-man judicial commission, headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia of the Gauhati High Court, to investigate the circumstances surrounding Assam’s legendary icon Zubeen Garg’s death, today took the statements of office-bearers of Assam Public Works (APW), the MLA Akhil Gogoi-led team from Raijor Dal and singer Manash Robin, through affidavits.
After submitting his affidavit, APW president Abhijit Sharma told reporters, “Many people had been active on social media after Zubeen Garg’s death. We had filed a PIL in the Gauhati High Court seeking a judicial committee and the state government appointed a one-man commission. After being active on social media, our duty was to come before the commission. We were in possession of several details, including the fact that a fashion show and other events continued in the Northeast Festival in Singapore after Zubeen’s death. We shared with the commission the Instagram posts of Shyamkanu Mahanta and others. We informed the commission that Shyamkanu’s wife was a director of MMS (organizer of the Northeast Festival). We questioned why she was also not arrested, despite being present there at the time of Zubeen’s death. Once a police, always a police; once a doctor, always a doctor. Sandipan Garg was present there. As a police officer, it was the duty of Sandipan Garg to seize the mobile phones of all persons present at the spot at the time of his death. He did not perform his duty.
“There were 18 people on the yacht, and only four of them were arrested. We posed the question why the rest of them were not arrested. We know Shyamkanu Mahanta’s house was sealed. So, how did his wife, Anita Deka, continue to live there? We asked the panel this. PR manager Anuj Baruah has not been summoned; we questioned why. Abhimanyu Talukdar, associated with Smile Asia, was also not arrested. We questioned why Garima Garg’s visa was cancelled. We asked as to why the autopsy was not done in Delhi’s AIIMS. By the time the post-mortem was done in Guwahati, the body was already damaged....” he added, apart from providing other details of his submission before the judicial commission.