Zubeen Garg death case: Assam SIT to meet Singapore Police for details of singer's last moments

Guwahati, Oct 21 (IANS) The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the untimely demise of Assam's cultural icon Zubeen Garg, is set to meet the Singapore Police Forces on Tuesday to fetch details of last moments of the singer while he was in Singapore.

Garg passed away on September 19 when he was in the yacht with members of Assam Association in Singapore along with his manager Siddharth Sharma, bandmates Shekharjyoti Goswami, Amritprabha Mahanta and his cousin Sandipan Garg. All of the abovementioned people are now behind the bars along with festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta due to their alleged role in the passing away of the iconic singer.

CID Special DGP Munna Prasad Gupta and SP-rank officer Tarun Goel have landed in Singapore on Monday as the members of SIT probing Garg's death.

The SIT members will have a meeting with the Singapore authority on Tuesday and they will most probably seek the CCTV footages of the hotel where Garg last stayed.

Notably, ferocious protests broke out outside the Baksa District Jail in the previous week after the five accused in the Zubeen Garg death case were brought to the facility under heavy police escort.

In the wake of escalating tension, the district administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to prevent further unrest.

The situation turned volatile when an agitated crowd gathered outside the Baksa district jail premises, demanding that two of the accused - festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and Zubeen Garg's manager Siddharth Sharma - be presented before the public.

The mob resorted to stone-pelting, injuring a female police officer and damaging several vehicles in the police convoy. Security forces resorted to the use of batons to disperse the protesters, and multiple individuals were detained for unlawful assembly.

District Magistrate Gautam Das promptly issued an order restricting all forms of public gatherings, rallies, demonstrations, and processions within a 500-metre radius of the Baksa jail.

The order also banned the carrying of weapons such as lathis, daggers, spears, and swords, along with the throwing of stones or any inflammable materials, including firecrackers.

The directive cited apprehensions of "breach of public peace and tranquillity owing to an unrest situation observed near the District Jail, Nikashi, Baksa", and warned that any violation will invite strict legal action under the relevant provisions of law.

--IANS

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