Guwahati, Assam: The Assam Police CID Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Wednesday arrested Sandipan Garg, a cousin of late singer Zubeen Garg and an Assam Police Service (APS) officer, in connection with the singer’s death in Singapore on September 19. Sandipan, who was serving as Deputy Superintendent (Law and Order) for Kamrup district, has been suspended from service with immediate effect.
He had accompanied Garg to Singapore and was present at the scene when the 52-year-old singer-composer-poet-actor-filmmaker died while swimming in the sea. This marks the fifth arrest in the ongoing investigation. Earlier, the SIT had arrested festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma, bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, and singer Amritprava Mahanta, all of whom are currently in CID custody.
Following Sandipan’s arrest, he was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kamrup (Metropolitan) district and remanded to seven days of police custody. Special DGP (CID) MP Gupta, leading the 10-member SIT, said, “Since an investigation is underway, I can’t reveal more than that.”
The case was initially registered under culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy, and death due to negligence, and a murder charge was added following interrogations of the previously arrested individuals. The CID also registered a separate case against Mahanta for alleged financial irregularities after recovering several seals and incriminating documents from his Guwahati residence.
Fresh summons will be issued to 10 Assam NRIs in Singapore connected to the yacht party Garg attended, while the CID continues its probe. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax Department would investigate financial irregularities linked to festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta.
Garg’s wife, Garrima Saikia Garg, remarked on Sandipan’s arrest: “Maybe they have got some clue in his statements. The investigation process is on and it is taking its own course, I can’t comment anything on it.”
Assam Police Arrest Zubeen Garg’s Cousin, APS Officer Sandipan Garg, In Connection With Singer’s Death In Singapore
