Assam police arrest Zubeen Garg’s manager, festival organizer in death probe

Northeast India Festival (NEIF) chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and singer Zubeen Garg’s manager Siddhartha Sharma have been remanded to 14 days’ police custody in connection with Garg’s death in Singapore on September 19, officials said. Special DGP (CID) Munna Prasad Gupta, heading the SIT investigating the case, said both were arrested from Delhi and brought to Guwahati. He explained that a “lookout notice” issued through Interpol helped in their detention, Mahanta was held at Delhi airport, while Sharma was arrested near the Delhi-Haryana border. Their mobile phones have been seized, and investigations continue.

After landing in Guwahati, the duo was taken to the Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate, as courts were closed for Durga Puja. Once remanded, they were escorted to the CID office under tight security, with photographs of them in custody shared by police.

Garg’s wife, Garima Saikia Garg, currently in Jorhat for the 13th-day rituals, expressed relief, saying, “We are all waiting to know what happened to him in his last moments. I have full faith in the investigating team.”

The Singapore autopsy report confirmed drowning as the cause of death. The Assam government had formed a 10-member SIT to probe the case, and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said both were to appear before the CID by October 6 following the Interpol notice.