GUWAHATI, October 1 — Assam police on Wednesday confirmed the arrests of North East India Festival (NEIF) chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and singer Zubeen Garg’s manager Siddhartha Sharma in connection with the singer’s death in Singapore last month.
Mahanta was taken into custody at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport upon his return from Singapore, while Sharma was arrested from an apartment in Gurugram, officials said. Both men were flown to Guwahati early Wednesday morning for further questioning.
A 10-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Special DGP M. P. Gupta, is probing Garg’s death, which occurred on September 19 when the singer drowned in the sea in Singapore. The SIT had earlier summoned Mahanta, Sharma, members of the Singapore Assam Association, and others who had travelled for the festival, directing them to record their statements.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had previously stated that a ‘lookout notice’ through Interpol had been issued against Mahanta and Sharma, instructing them to appear before the CID by October 6.
Police said the arrests were part of the ongoing investigation and that further questioning will determine their role, if any, in the circumstances surrounding Garg’s death.
