Assam’s maverick singer Zubeen Garg was always in the local media and his mysterious death, thousands kilometers away from the motherland, gave enough space for the media fraternity to narrate stories according to their wishes (some claim it as wisdom !). Critics now start making observations that if anyone prefers to experience conflicting media reports following a cult-like personality’s demise under an unexplained situation on foreign soil, he (or she) needs to reach Assam as the journalists here have attained a rare expertise to describe stories as they determine. With no quote or sound bite from the location, the Guwahati-based television anchors earned a rare capacity to kill time with unorganized narrations that often confused the audience. So when the heartbreaking news surfaced from Singapore that shocked the entire population of northeast India, multiple electronic media outlets started toiling for conflicting reports that puzzled the viewers in realizing the real fact, how the cultural icon had to die in the island nation.
The initial sadness and melancholy slowly turned into outrages among millions of Zubeen’s fans and admirers. The netizens also cried foul, why his tragic incident was not properly reported, even though a group of Asomiya people (including a journalist, a news channel owner, a police officer and many media savvy individuals) accompanied Zubeen to participate in the 4th North East India Festival, organized in the southeast Asian country. As the sad news broke in the afternoon hours of 19 September, Assam came to a standstill. Guwahati turned into a sea of humans- weeping, sobbing, crying and exclaiming why Zubeen was put to death in seawaters. The phenomenal singer’s last journey on 21 September in a flower-decked ambulance, two days of public viewing and homage at Sarusajai stadium and cremation at Kamarkuchi near Guwahati on 23 September with full state honours after four days of mourning witnessed unprecedented crowds. An animal lover, a philanthropist and versatile genius, Zubeen sang thousands of songs in multiple languages and could play a number of musical instruments. Awarded with various honours, the identical face of Assam’s hugely popular Bihu functions in recent decades, Zubeen also produced and acted in Assamese movies.
Meanwhile, all the newspapers of Assam dedicated front-pages for Zubeen related developments and news channels started telecasting all important updates round the clock. Hundreds of thousands of Zubeen’s well-wishers started a massive campaign on social media demanding justice for the flamboyant artiste. Now less than 60 police complaints were lodged in various localities in Assam alleging that Zubeen had to die in Singapore because of the collective callousness shown by Shyamkanu Mahanta (chief organizer of the festival in Singapore, where Zubeen was scheduled to perform), Siddharth Sharma (his manager), Shekarjyoti Goswami (a Zubeen associate) and Sanjive Narain (businessman and owner of Prag News satellite channel and Dainik Janambhumi newspaper). Facing unprecedented public cries, the State government urgently formed a special investigation team (SIT) under the crime investigation department (CID) of Assam Police.
As the investigation proceeds, Mahanta, Sharma along with Goswami and Amritprabha Mahanta (a Zubeen’s co-signer) are arrested under various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanghita and many others continue facing interrogations. Goswami also reportedly claimed that Zubeen was poisoned during the Singapore trip under a pre-planned conspiracy. In the mean time, murder charges were added to the sensational case and the government declared the formation of a one-man judicial commission headed by justice Soumitra Saikia of Gauhati High Court, to monitor the investigation. Amidst all developments, prime accused Mahanta was reported approaching the Supreme Court for transferring the case from Assam. In his appeal to the apex court (on 30 September), Mahanta urged to hand over the probe to a central agency to be monitored by a retired SC judge. The young entrepreneur, who is incidentally the younger brother of a former director general of police (presently chief of the State information commission) and a current vice-chancellor of an Assam-based prestigious university, also sought protection of his life and properties.
Zubeen’s widow Garima Saikia insisted on extracting all details relating to the unfortunate incident from the accused individuals. She lamented that Zubeen was like a child and he loved, helped and trusted everyone. The video-clippings, circulated on social media, show him as exhausted during the swimming. Zubeen had a medical issue and the doctors advised to avoid going near the fire and water, but the group of people brought Zubeen to a yacht party and even encouraged him to swim, she cried out, asking everyone among them to be questioned. She also returned back the post mortem report of her husband to the concerned police officer, who arrived to hand over the report prepared by Gauhati medical college hospital authority, citing the reason that as the investigation is going on, the report should not be made public and it should remain with the concerned officials. Now the SIT is waiting for the viscera sample report from the Central Forensic Laboratory in New Delhi, which is supposed to reach Guwahati by 10 October. Soon a team of police officers may visit Singapore to gather more evidence and other details after receiving the concerned authority’s approval.
However, The Straits Times, Singapore’s widely circulated daily, reported that the Singaporean police ruled out foul play in Zubeen’s death (during a sea outing in waters off St John’s Island and not after scuba diving as initially reported by international media outlets). Speaking to the acclaimed newspaper, a Singapore Police Force (SPF) spokesman on 1 October stated that a copy of the autopsy report (issued by the Singapore hospital), along with its preliminary findings on Zubeen’s demise (due to drowning) was sent to the High Commission of India, upon its request. Quoting Ng Kai Ling, associate director at LIMN Law Corporation, the newspaper claimed that SPF’s initial statement could be assumed that they do not suspect Zubeen was murdered or he died as a result of criminal violence. She pointed out that ‘a coroner’s inquiry’ could ascertain the sequence of events that led to his drowning and subsequent death.
