Zubeen Garg's cousin and Assam police officer Sandipan Garg, suspended after arrest in singer's death

Zubeen Garg cousin has been arrested

Zubeen Garg's cousin and Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg, who was arrested in connection with the singer's death in Singapore, has been suspended. Zubeen Garg died of alleged drowning last month.

The Assam government issued an order and suspended Assam Police Service (APS) officer Sandipan Garg.

According to news agency ANI, in the order issued by the Home (A) department of the Assam government, it said,”… it has been informed by the Chief Investigating Officer of CID PS case No.18/2025 vide Memo No.CID/CELL-XVI/CID PS CASE NO.18/2025/3242 dated 08/10/2025 that Sandipan Garg, APS, I/C Co-District Superintendent of Police, Boko-Chaygaon, Kamrup was arrested on Wednesday at 10:56 AM in connection with CID PS Case No.18/2025 under Sections 61(2)/105/106(1) BNS 2023 with added Section 103 BNS, 2023, upon finding sufficient evidences against him; and Whereas, as per the aforementioned report of the Chief Investigating Officer of CID PS case No.18/2025, the accused Sandipan Garg, APS has been brought in police custody for seven days as granted by the Court and that he will be remanded to judicial custody on till 15th October on completion of period in police custody.”

“Now therefore, the Governor of Assam, in exercise of powers conferred under Rule 6 (1) (c) of the Assam Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1964, is pleased to order that Shri Sandipan Garg, APS, I/C Co-District Superintendent of Police, Boko-Chaygaon, Kamrup, is placed under suspension with immediate effect until further orders,” said in the order.

The order also stated that – “During the period of suspension, the headquarters of Shri Sandipan Garg, APS, if released from judicial custody, will be Assam Police Headquarters, Ulubari, Guwahati, subject to review, if deemed necessary.”

Meanwhile, the DSP was remanded to seven-day police custody by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Kamrup Metropolitan district, he said.

According to the state police, the case was registered under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including murder, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by negligence.

Zubeen Garg drowned while swimming in the sea in Singapore on September 19.

His cousin Sandipan was present with him on a yacht when the incident took place.

"We have arrested Sandipan Garg. Now, we are doing the necessary legal formalities," CID Special DGP Munna Prasad Gupta told PTI.

A special investigation team under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Assam Police is probing into the singer’s death. This is the fifth arrest in the case.

Previously, North East India Festival chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer's manager Siddharth Sharma, and his two band members - Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amrit Prabha Mahanta - were apprehended. They are now in police custody.

The apprehended police officer, who was working as the co-district in-charge superintendent of Boko-Chhaygaon in Kamrup district, was interrogated several times in the last few days over the singer's death in Singapore last month.

"Our team took him (Sandipan Garg) to a court here. We just got the news that he has been given seven days of police remand, although we sought a 14-day remand," Gupta said.

On condition of anonymity, another senior officer told PTI that Sandipan “is likely to be placed under suspension as the court has sent him to police custody”.

"The department is also verifying if he had taken proper permission from the government for travelling to Singapore. As per the service rule, a public servant cannot travel abroad without proper permission from the government," he said.

Sandipan, an Assam Police Services (APS) officer of the 2022 batch, had cleared the Public Service Commission's Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota.

However, his father is reportedly an officer of a PSU fertiliser company, based in Namrup in Dibrugarh district.

Notably, Zubeen Garg had gone to the Southeast Asian nation to attend the 4th edition of the North East India Festival.

The state CID is currently probing the case of Garg's death after more than 60 FIRs have been lodged across the state against Shyamkanu and 10 others, including his manager and two band members. (With PTI/ANI Inputs)