Zubeen Garg’s cousin and Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the singer’s death in Singapore last month, a senior officer said.
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.
The singer 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.
Earlier, 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.
Chargesheet in Zubeen death case to be submitted within 3 months: Himanta
Guwahati, Oct 8 (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said the chargesheet in the investigation into the death of singer Zubeen Garg will be submitted within the stipulated period of three months.
The Assam government will “definitely ensure justice to him”, Sarma asserted.
‘The inquiry is proceeding on expected lines. We have made one arrest after the other, and I am sure that the Assam Police will submit the chargesheet within the stipulated time frame,’ he said on the sidelines of a programme in Dibrugarh.
‘We are duty-bound to provide justice to him and we will not spare anybody in that context,’ he said.
All the accused will be taken to court, and usually a time of three months is given to submit the chargesheet, the CM said.
‘We will not take more time than that to ensure that after the investigation, the court can give justice,’ Sarma said.
There have been some issues as the Assam Association members in Singapore, who were with the singer during his last moments, have not come yet, barring one, though they have been summoned by the SIT, he said.
‘We are working on how to bring them back, and are making the necessary arrangements in this regard. We need to have patience and if we lose it, no one will get justice,’ the chief minister said.
On the Assam Police going to Singapore, Sarma said they cannot go to that country, “just like their police cannot come here to investigate” a case.
‘We are, however, sure that the Singapore Police will help us. We do not need much, but the video footage of the hotel where he stayed, the yacht and the statements of the two persons who operated it,’ he said.
The CM said he will meet the Singapore ambassador to India later in October and ‘considering the relationship that Assam has with that country, I am sure of getting their help’.
“The Singaporean authorities have already sent the forensic report, and it will not be difficult for us to submit the chargesheet,” he said.
Sarma said the investigation is progressing step by step, and if ‘we proceed in this manner without making any mistake, we will get justice’.
‘We are emotional people, but let emotion stay in its own place and allow police to work according to its methodology. If we lose the case in court, people will accuse us that this happened as the police had hurried, not taking all aspects into consideration,’ he said.
Five persons, including the celebrated singer’s cousin Sandipan Garg, his manager Siddhartha Sharma, musician Shekharjyoti Goswami, Singer Amritprava Mahanta and North East India Festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, have been arrested and are currently in police custody.
Zubeen Garg died in Singapore while swimming in the sea on September 19.