Lookout notices issued against North East fest organiser, manager in Zubeen’s death case: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday that lookout notices have been issued against North East India Festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and Zubeen Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma in the singer's death case.

In a Facebook live, Sarma said both must come to Guwahati and make their statements on October 6, failing which the police will intensify a search operation for them.

“As the Durga Puja festival will begin, we don’t want them to come right now. But after Dashami, they have to come. They must come to Guwahati on October 6 and present their statements,” he said.

"If they do not want to present themselves before the CID, which has been probing the incidents leading to Garg’s death by drowning in the sea in Singapore on September 19. They can approach the court,' the chief minister maintained.

He added that Mahanta’s bank accounts and credit cards have been frozen so that “he cannot remain outside for long”.

Sarma said the government is in the process of getting Garg’s autopsy report from Singapore.

The report of the second post-mortem examination conducted at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital here is also "ready", Sarma said.

The chief minister said he has written to the chief justice of Gauhati High Court on Friday for setting up a judicial commission headed by a sitting judge to ensure transparency in the police investigation.

“I have told Union Home Minister Amit Shah today that we will hand over the case to CBI the day it seems that the Assam Police is not being able to get justice for Zubeen,” he added.

Sarma also urged the people to maintain restraint and not to indulge in “anti-government politics in the name of Zubeen in an attempt to turn Assam into Nepal”.

Nepal recently witnessed a nationwide agitation triggered by a social media ban by the K P Sharma Oli dispensation in the neighbouring country.