Zubeen Garg: Music has stopped, mystery plays on

Police say non-cooperation by some Assamese people in Singapore has posed a challenge to efforts to connect the dots in the probe into the death of the iconic singer.

“I need the answer,” Zubeen Garg’s wife, Garima Saikia Garg, wrote on Facebook on October 7, asking for the reasons behind the iconic singer-musician’s sudden death. It was Garima’s first social media post since September 19, the day the 52-year-old Zubeen died in Singapore, while swimming in the sea with his friends and associates.

Garima’s post has since received over one lakh likes and been shared by more than 10,000 users. Among the 17,000-plus comments, many echoed the same haunting question: why was Zubeen taken – or allowed to go – to the sea, when his friends knew doctors had advised him to stay away from water and fire? Zubeen, who had a history of seizures, was in Singapore to attend the Northeast India Festival as a “cultural ambassador.”

The exact cause of Zubeen Garg’s death remains shrouded in mystery. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the state government of Assam has so far arrested seven people, including his cousin and police officer, Sandipan Garg, manager Siddharth Sharma, and Shyamkanu Mahanta, the organiser of the Northeast India Festival in Singapore. The SIT has also questioned at least 20 others – friends, bandmates, and several prominent actors and singers - amid rising public anger and growing demands for justice from the Garg family and Zubeen’s vast fan base across Assam and beyond.

At first, the tragedy seemed like a tragic accident. The death certificate issued by Singapore authorities cited drowning as the cause of death. But the situation took a sharp turn on October 2, when the Singapore Police Force handed over the autopsy report to the Indian High Commission, which later forwarded it to the SIT. Although the autopsy findings have not been disclosed, the SIT added murder charges (under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) against Siddharth Sharma and Shyamkanu Mahanta. Two of Zubeen’s bandmates, musician Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and singer Amritprabha Mahanta, who were present at the site, were soon arrested.

The mystery deepened further when Goswami, during SIT questioning, alleged that Zubeen was poisoned by Siddharth and Shyamkanu and that a “conspiracy” was hatched to portray the death as an accident.

A second post-mortem was conducted in Guwahati on September 23, hours before Zubeen’s cremation. This followed Shekhar’s claim, made before his arrest, that the singer’s body had turned blue soon after he was pulled out of the water and placed on the yacht where the group had been partying. The yacht had reportedly been booked by a group of Singapore-based Assamese NRIs. Eight of them were summoned by the SIT to clarify what happened on board, but only one appeared on October 7. The others stayed away, citing various reasons. This, according to the investigators, has become a major obstacle in connecting the dots and pursuing suspicions of murder.

“Why are they not coming forward to say what happened?” asked Garima in her post. She later returned the two post-mortem reports that had been handed to her by the SIT, saying, “Let the reports be with the police and the court. Let them find out the truth. I have faith in the police and the court.”

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Assam Police could not travel to Singapore but expressed hope that crucial evidence would be obtained under a bilateral treaty between India and Singapore.

Politics over death

Even as questions over Zubeen’s death remain unresolved, the issue has triggered a political war of words between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress and other parties. With the state assembly elections just months away, the opposition Congress has intensified its demand for a CBI investigation, alleging that the SIT might protect Shyamkanu because of his “proximity” to Sarma.

Shyamkanu is the brother of Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, the former state police chief, and Nani Gopal Mahanta, the Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University, who until recently served as the education advisor to the chief minister.

“The chief minister wants Shyamkanu Mahanta to get a clean chit and continue running his business as before, receiving grants from the Centre. Himanta Biswa Sarma has launched a ‘Mission Save Shyamkanu Mahanta,’” alleged Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi on October 8. The Raijor Dal, led by MLA Akhil Gogoi, and the Asom Jatiya Parishad have also demanded that the case be handed over to the CBI.

Sarma, however, countered the allegations, claiming that it was Gogoi who had personal ties with Shyamkanu. “I have not attended any event organised by Shyamkanu after 2015. We hope to get to the bottom of the case soon,” he said.

The chief minister also sought to reassure the public: “We will refer the case to the CBI if the SIT fails to deliver justice to Zubeen, his family, and the people of Assam. Don’t vote for the BJP if we can’t provide justice to Zubeen,” he said in a Facebook Live video on September 27.

Voices within the BJP have also expressed concern over the probe. “An immediate site visit was necessary, but it’s already late. I see the possibility of destruction of evidence if it’s a murder case,” BJP leader and lawyer Shantanu Bharali told reporters on Thursday.

Veteran BJP leader and former Union Minister Rajen Gohain, who quit the party on October 9, claimed that many BJP supporters who were fans of Zubeen would not vote for the ruling party in 2026 if justice is denied.

The arrest of Zubeen’s cousin Sandipan Garg, coupled with the Enforcement Directorate’s probe into the financial transactions of Siddharth Sharma and Shyamkanu Mahanta, has further intensified speculation around the singer’s death. On Friday (October 10), two of Zubeen’s personal security officers were arrested after investigators discovered transactions exceeding Rupees One Crore in their accounts. There are also allegations that Siddharth had mismanaged Zubeen’s finances and that the singer had planned to review his accounts upon returning from Singapore.