Assam CID adds murder charges in Zubeen Garg's death case; team to reach Singapore

THe malefactor investigating section (CID) separate of Assam law has added murder charges to the first information report (FIR) registered in the death of singer Zubeen Garg, who passed away on September 19 in Singapore, said the Special Director General of Police (SDGP), CID Assam, Munna Prasad Gupta on Thursday.The new offence was added following interrogation of festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and Garg's manager Siddharth Sharma, who were arrested on Wednesday and brought to Guwahati.Zubeen Garg had travelled to Singapore to take part in the North East India Festival (NEIF) organised by Mahanta.Gupta, who is leading the 10-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the singer's death, said that a police team was ready to travel to Singapore to join the investigation."We are investigating each and every aspect of the singer's death and, since it has happened in Singapore, we requested the government of that country to allow us to investigate under a mutual treaty. The formalities have been completed and the Singapore Government has asked us to wait for a couple of days," Gupta told reporters on Thursday.CID initially registered a case (CID PS Case No. 18/2025) against them under Sections 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), and 106(1) (causing death by a rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023."As of now, we can reveal this much: section 103 of the BNS has been added, and we are investigating the matter further," he added.CID has arrested two more musicians of Assam who were closed late singer Zubeen Garg on Thursday. Singer Amritprabha Mahanta, and musician Shekhar Goswami, who were summoned by the CID for questioning on September 27, have been arrested, as per the official sources.The CID also questioned some more individuals in connection with the singer's unusual death.During the investigation, they recovered Zubeen’s personal handbag from his manager, Siddhartha Sharma. The bag contained documents and medicines, and had been seized. The medicines have been sent for forensic examination.Officials said the investigators are awaiting the results of a second autopsy conducted in India, as doubts continue to swirl around the official version of events.Gupta said that the Singapore authorities will submit the postmortem report and other confidential reports to the singer's family. The report of the postmortem, which was done at Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), is taking a little longer because the viscera samples have been sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Delhi.Zubeen Garg was in Singapore to perform at the North-East Festival on September 20 – an event showcasing the cultural heritage of Northeast India but died a day before.On October 1, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said Garg died from drowning after swimming off St John’s Island, not while scuba diving, as initially claimed by many.According to the SPF, Garg was on board a yacht with over a dozen people and was seen jumping into the water twice – once with a life jacket and once without. He was pulled out unconscious and later declared dead at Singapore General Hospital.The official autopsy report, along with preliminary findings, was handed over to the Indian High Commission in Singapore.However, Zubeen's wife Garima Garg, who also lodged a police complaint on September 27 seeking justice, on Thursday said that she was yet to receive a copy of the report.