Two more people were arrested on Thursday in connection with the death of singer Zubeen Garg, including his bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and co-singer Amritprabha Mahanta. Both of them were reportedly present at the spot when the incident happened.
"We have found some evidence against them. So, to enquire further, their arrest was necessary," an officer told news agency PTI.
According to police, this brings the total number of arrests made in the case to four, including Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma and event organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the man behind the Northeast India Festival where Garg had gone to perform.
The two were taken into custody on Wednesday and charged under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy, and causing death by negligence.
Special DGP of the Assam Police’s CID Munna Prasad Gupta said that both Sharma and Mahanta are in 14-day police custody and their questioning is currently underway. "The investigation is going on, and I cannot share much detail. We have added Section 103 of the BNS in the FIR now," he said. Section 103 deals with murder, carrying punishment of death or life imprisonment, along with a fine.
Shyamkanu is the younger brother of former DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, who is currently the Chief Information Commissioner of the Assam State Information Commission. His another elder brother is Nani Gopal Mahanta, who was the education advisor to CM Himanta Biswa Sarma before becoming Gauhati University’s vice chancellor.
On September 19, Garg passed away in Singapore under mysterious conditions while swimming in the sea. He had been in the country to participate in the 4th Northeast India Festival, organised by Mahanta and his company. To investigate the incident, Assam Police set up a nine-member SIT.
Gupta, who heads the SIT, said a team will leave for Singapore to collect evidence and other details related to the case once it gets approval from that country.
"Our team is ready to go to Singapore. There are some formalities to be done. We have sent the request through the proper channel, and it will take some time. Once they inform us, our team will go," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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