The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the untimely demise of Assam’s cultural icon Zubeen Garg, is set to meet the Singapore Police Forces on Tuesday to obtain details of the singer’s final moments while he was in Singapore.
Garg passed away on September 19 while on a yacht with members of the Assam Association in Singapore, along with his manager Siddharth Sharma, bandmates Shekharjyoti Goswami and Amritprabha Mahanta, and his cousin Sandipan Garg. All of the aforementioned individuals are now in custody, along with festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, due to their alleged roles in the singer’s death.
CID Special DGP Munna Prasad Gupta and SP-rank officer Tarun Goel arrived in Singapore on Monday as part of the SIT probing Garg’s death.
The SIT members will meet the Singapore authorities on Tuesday and are expected to seek CCTV footage from the hotel where Garg last stayed.
Notably, violent protests erupted outside Baksa District Jail last week after the five accused in the Zubeen Garg death case were brought to the facility under heavy police escort.
In response to escalating tension, the district administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to prevent further unrest.
The situation turned volatile when an agitated crowd gathered outside the Baksa district jail, demanding that festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and manager Siddharth Sharma be presented before the public.
The mob resorted to stone-pelting, injuring a female police officer and damaging several vehicles in the police convoy. Security forces used batons to disperse the protesters, and multiple individuals were detained for unlawful assembly.
District Magistrate Gautam Das promptly issued an order restricting all forms of public gatherings, rallies, demonstrations, and processions within a 500-metre radius of the Baksa jail.
The order also prohibited carrying weapons such as lathis, daggers, spears, and swords, as well as throwing stones or any inflammable materials, including firecrackers.
The directive cited apprehensions of a “breach of public peace and tranquillity owing to an unrest situation observed near the District Jail, Nikashi, Baksa,” and warned that any violation would invite strict legal action under the relevant provisions of law.
–IANS