Second postmortem of Zubeen Garg's body on Tuesday morning: Assam CM

Guwahati: Amid demands by many of his fans, Assam government on Monday decided to conduct the second post-mortem on the body of music icon Zubeen Garg, who died while swimming in a sea in Singapore on Friday.

"Personally, I am not in favour of going through the procedure of post-mortem again on Zubeen's body. But I decided to go for it in order avoid any kind of circumstance later, although the number of those making the demand is not so large," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters in Guwahati on Monday evening.

"It will take two hours tomorrow for the post-mortem. His wife Garima has also consented to the same."

The decision was taken at a time when thousands of his fans were still pouring in to pay their last tributes to Garg at the Sarusajai Sports Complex here, where his body has been kept since Sunday afternoon for mass tributes.

The state government has also decided to send a state CID team to Singapore as part of its investigation into the FIRs seeking a probe.

The FIRs have mainly named Shyamkanu Mahanta, the organiser of the Nortehast Festival in Singapore and Siddharth Sharma, Zubeen's manager. They questioned why the iconic singer was taken to the sea despite having health issues.

Garg, 52, who remained a household name for nearly four decades for his music, songs, films and helpful nature, died while reportedly swimming in the sea. Singapore government cited drowning as the cause of his death. A post-mortem was done before his mortal remains were brought to Assam.

Garg was in Singapore to attend the Festival, organised by a firm run by Mahanta, an Assamese entrepreneur. After his death, Mahanta said he was informed that Garg was out for scuba diving but his team was not aware of it.

In another statement on Sunday, Mahanta said Zubeen was taken out to the sea by a Singapore-based Assamese friend of the singer, Tanmoy Phukan, despite his objections.

Last rites

CM Sarma said Garg's last rites would be performed on Tuesday at Hatimura village near Sonapur in the outskirts of Guwahati.

The government has prohibited movement of vehicles on the route (about 20kms) from Sarusajari sports compex to the venue, for smooth conduct of the funeral and the last rites.