Zubeen death: ED, IT to probe irregularities of festival organiser, says Assam CM

GUWAHATI: Assam chief government minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on mon said that the enforcement board of directors (ED) and income assess (IT) section would investigate allegations of financial irregularities against festival organiser, Shyamkanu Mahanta, who was arrested last week in connection with the suspicious death of Assamese singer Zubeen Garg in Singapore last month.Fifty-two-year-old Garg died while swimming in sea in Singapore where he had gone to attend the North East India Festival (NEIF) organised by Mahanta. Following allegations of foul play, the criminal investigation department (CID) of the Assam police lodged a case of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, death due to negligence against Mahanta and Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma. Mahanta and Sharma were arrested on October 1 in Delhi and Gurgaon, respectively, and following their interrogations an additional charge of murder was added to the case.The CID also arrested Garg’s bandmate, Shekharjyoti Goswami, and singer Amritprava Mahanta, both of whom were present in Singapore and at the scene of the singer’s death. The CID has lodged a separate case against Mahanta for alleged financial irregularities after recovery of many seals, documents and other details during searches at his Guwahati residence after Garg’s death.“I believe that central government agencies like enforcement directorate (ED) and income tax (IT) would also take cognizance of financial irregularities of Shyamkanu Mahanta.We are in discussions with those agencies already to look into these issues professionally. We want to ensure that no one (related to Garg’s death) manages to escape,” the chief minister said during a press meet in Guwahati.Besides the four persons already arrested, the CID are also questioning Garg’s cousin Sandipan Garg, an Assam police officer who had gone to Singapore along with the singer and was present at the spot when he died. The CID had issued notices to eight Assamese NRIs based in Singapore, who had organised a yacht party for Garg and were present when the incident took place, to appear before it to record their statements related to the case. The deadline of the notices expired on Monday.“One Assamese based in Singapore, Rup Kamal Kalita, will arrive in Guwahati on Tuesday. I hope that all others will also come. Some are not willing to come here and join the investigation, but we have kept up pressure on them. We need to get their statements to finish the investigation fast,” said Sarma.“Our police aren’t required to go to Singapore and can’t go to another country to conduct an investigation. The government at Centre has already invoked the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), which India has with Singapore. Under that, the Singapore government will share with Indian authorities details of the investigation they have done in Garg’s death,” he added.