Assam to set up judicial commission to probe Zubeen's death; ED, I-T likely to join inquiry

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said a judicial commission will be formed to probe the death of the state's cultural icon Zubeen Garg.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (I-T) Department are likely to join the Assam Police in investigating alleged organised financial crimes and acquisition of benami properties by event manager Shyamkanu Mahanta, an accused in the death of Garg.

Sarma, in a Facebook Live, said that the commission will be headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia of the Gauhati High Court.

''We will form the commission tomorrow. Now, we request all the people who have any information or videos related to Zubeen Garg's death to come forward and depose in front of the commission,'' he added.

Garg died under mysterious circumstances in Singapore on September 19 while swimming in the sea. He had gone to the Southeast Asian nation to attend the fourth edition of the North East India Festival, organised by Shyamkanu Mahanta and his company.

The state CID is currently probing the case of Garg's death after more than 60 FIRs have been lodged across the state against Mahanta, the chief organiser of the Northeast India Festival, where the singer had gone to perform, and almost 10 others.

Sarma further said, ''Now, those who had shared different information related to Zubeen's death on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, it is their duty to submit affidavits in front of the commission.'' Already, four people have been arrested in the case and sent to 14 days of police remand each.

''Now, the government requests members of the Assam Association of Singapore, who were accompanying the singer on the day of his death, to come forward and give their statement,'' he said, adding that otherwise, it will have to take action against them.

Sarma also said that the government has handed over the report of the post-mortem examination done in Singapore to Zubeen's wife Garima on Thursday.

''The report of the second post-mortem examination done at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital will be given to her tomorrow. It is up to Garima whether she makes the post-mortem reports public or not,'' he added.

Meanwhile, sources told PTI that officials from ED and the I-T Department have already visited the CID headquarters to look into the case related to a fiscal scam allegedly committed by Shyamkanu Mahanta.

''They are likely to join the probe with CID, and a formal decision may come very soon,'' a source said.

The CID seized bundles of incriminating documents and items from Mahanta's home during raids on September 25 and 26, such as multiple PAN cards in the name of the same firm, nearly 30 stamp seals of different companies and government officials, and documents related to several benami properties.

To a query whether the ED and the I-T Department will join the probe against Mahanta's alleged fiscal irregularities, CID Special DGP Munna Prasad Gupta told PTI, ''I cannot comment on their behalf. It is up to them to decide.'' Another source, on condition of anonymity, said that CID has unearthed more than 20-year-old financial irregularities allegedly committed by Mahanta when he was working as the Assistant General Manager with the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd.

''During the course of the investigation, it was found that he, along with two GMs, had given over Rs 14-crore loan to a company named DSS E-Connect Ltd for opening call centres in Assam. Out of the total amount, Rs 8.42 crore was disbursed in 2001 and Rs 6 crore in 2003,'' he added.

When no call centre was established and no EMI was paid to repay the loan till 2003, an internal probe was initiated by NEDFi in the early part of 2004, but it was never completed, the source said.

Prior to the internal probe, the loan to DSS was declared Non-Performing Asset (NPA) on March 31, 2003, he added.

''Mahanta was the project manager of the entire work. In 2004 end, he resigned from NEDFi and joined the IL&FS as its VP. Later, he left that job too and started his own event management firm, Trend MMS,'' the source said.

A court in Assam on Friday sent Garg's band members Shekharjyoti Goswami and Amritprabha Mahanta to 14 days of police remand in connection with the death of the singer-composer.

Drummer Goswami and co-singer Mahanta were arrested on Thursday after days of interrogation. The two were present on the yacht in Singapore when Zubeen Garg died in front of them under suspicious circumstances.

Police have already invoked murder charges against Garg's manager Siddharth Sharma and festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, who were nabbed from Delhi on Wednesday. They are also in CID's custody for 14 days.

Zubeen's wife Garima recorded her statement in front of the CJM and submitted all relevant documents.

''We need justice as soon as possible. That is my prayer to the judicial system. I want to know what exactly happened that we lost him. We will cooperate with the law,'' she told reporters outside the court.

During the day, three members of the festival organising team -- Pankaj Adhikari, Pritam Talukdat and Krishanu Das -- were summoned by the SIT for interrogation.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)