Following four arrests so far, the Assam Police SIT escalating charges from negligence to potential murder, and international cooperation underway, the Zubeen Garg death case is evolving into a multi-jurisdictional criminal investigation. The Guwahati high court has now agreed to the Assam state government’s request to form a judicial commission headed by a sitting HC judge. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the judicial committee, to be headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia, will be formed today (October 4).
The Enforcement Directorate and the income-tax department are also likely to join the widening investigation into alleged financial crimes of money-laundering and acquisition of benami properties linked to Shyamkanu Mahanta, the arrested chief organiser of the North East India Festival in Singapore where singer Zubeen was scheduled to perform a day after his demise by drowning. There is also public pressure as over 60 FIRs have been filed across Assam. Chief minister Sarma, through a live address on Facebook on October 3, said that there was a “coordinated conspiracy” to malign the government using Zubeen’s legacy.
Meanwhile, Shyamkanu Mahanta has moved the Supreme Court alleging that he was a “victim of a well-calculated witch hunt”. He is seeking protection for his life, limbs and personal liberty, and has requested the court to hand over the probe to NIA or CBI. The event organiser said that he was being made a”scapegoat” by the state government.
