Zubeen Garg death probe: Shekhar, Amritprabha in police custody

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The investigation into the death of Assam's cultural icon Zubeen Garg in Singapore is proceeding at full steam, and four arrests have been made so far. The latest to be arrested are musician Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and singer Amritprabha Mahanta, both of whom were put under arrest on Thursday evening following sustained interrogation.

Both Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amritprabha Mahanta were produced at the CJM's court on Friday, following which they were sent to 14 days' police custody (CID). Both of them were present at the time of the incident leading to Zubeen's death in the sea near Lazarus Island of Singapore. Incidentally, Zubeen's manager, Siddharth Sharma, earlier arrested in New Delhi-NCR and now in CID custody, was part of the group which went on a yacht trip along with Zubeen on September 19. It was during the yacht trip that Zubeen went swimming in the water near Lazarus Island and died under mysterious circumstances.

Zubeen had gone to Singapore, along with his entourage, to perform at the Northeast India Festival in Singapore. The organizer of the festival was Shyamkanu Mahanta, who was arrested at the IGI airport in New Delhi after disembarking from an international flight on October 1.

Another member of Zubeen's team, his cousin Sandipan Garg, is also being interrogated by the SIT formed to probe Zubeen's death. Sandipan Garg is a DSP in Assam Police.

According to sources, three associates of Shyamkanu were questioned by the SIT on Friday.

SIT chief SDGP (CID) Munna Prasad Gupta told the media on Friday that the duo arrested on Thursday were produced in court and were sent into 14 days custody of the police. He said, "We're investigating the case according to the law and will take it to its logical conclusion as soon as possible. We're ensuring that no loopholes remain in the investigation, which is being conducted properly, as per law."

An SIT team visited the Kahilipara residence of the late singer Zubeen Garg today and collected some information from his wife, Garima Saikia Garg. On Friday, Garima also recorded her statement before the CJM's court under Section 183 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

Sources said the post-mortem report from Singapore was handed over to Garima. The report from GMCH will be handed over to her tomorrow. Both reports will also be handed over to the court.

It has now emerged that Shyamkanu Mahanta had filed a writ petition (Diary number 56715/2025) in the Supreme Court on September 30, through his advocate Raj Kamal. In his plea, Shyamkanu sought interim relief in the multiple FIRs filed against him in Assam. He also requested that the investigation into Zubeen's death be handled by the NIA or CBI.

The synopsis of the writ petition filed in the SC reads, "The Petitioner is a victim of a well-calculated witch-hunt involving irresponsible media reportings, both print and electronic, which seek to create a false narrative with regard to the alleged involvement of the Petitioner in the sad and unfortunate demise of his very dear personal friend, Mr Zubeen Garg (hereinafter referred to as the deceased/late singer). The Petitioner has been embroiled in a media trial on mainstream media and social media and is being subjected to large-scale public hatred owing to a false narrative. The allegations are ludicrous, to say the least, as the Petitioner, who was the event organizer of a festival to be held on 19-21 September, 2025, in Singapore, was not even present at the place of occurrence of the unfortunate demise of the late singer."

The Assam Police has registered a PS Case (No. 18 of 2025) under Sections 61(2) {Criminal Conspiracy}/105 {Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder}/106(1) {Causing death by negligence} of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 at CID P.S. and has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the death of the late singer.

Subsequently, on Thursday, Section 103 of the BNS, which outlines punishment for murder, was also added to the other charges against the accused in the case.

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