Guwahati, Oct 19: Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Sunday alleged that the investigation into the death of the state’s icon Zubeen Garg in Singapore is not moving in the right direction.
He alleged that the state government constituted the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to save Shyamkanu Mahanta and Siddhartha Sharma, currently in judicial custody, as they have close ties with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the BJP.
“As an investigation is going on, it is the duty of the government to make public all information on Shyamkanu Mahanta and Siddhartha Sharma. Nothing should be kept hidden,” Gogoi told reporters on the sidelines of a memorial organised for the singer-composer by the opposition parties here.
“The way Himanta Biswa Sarma is taking forward the investigation through the SIT, it feels that the chief minister had formed the SIT to hide his close relation with Shyamkanu Mahanta,” he alleged.
Garg had died on September 19 while swimming in the sea in Singapore, where he had gone to attend the 4th North East India Festival (NEIF).
A 10-member SIT of the state police’s CID is investigating the case, and seven people have been arrested so far — NEIF organiser Mahanta, Garg’s manager Sharma, his cousin and police officer Sandipan, band members Sekharjyoti Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta, and his personal security officers Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya.
The festival organiser is the younger brother of former DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, who is at present the chief of the Assam State Information Commission. Another elder brother of his is Nani Gopal Mahanta, who was the Education Advisor to the CM before becoming the vice chancellor of Gauhati University.
Gogoi, the deputy leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, also alleged that the SIT was formed to hide the relationship between Garg’s manager and the BJP.
Alleging that the probe is not moving in the right direction, he said, “Legal experts, those who know criminal laws, the court system, all are questioning the investigation.”
“The chief minister is taking the lead in the probe and seems he is more concerned about saving his image,” he claimed.
Gogoi maintained that in Garg’s death, Assam lost a voice that spoke bravely for its people, its culture and its nature.
“In his absence, we do feel a little lost. Our duty is to take forward his dream, Bhupen Hazarika’s dream of a ‘Bor Asom’ (greater/ united Assam),” he added.
Leaders of different opposition parties participated in the memorial, with singers performing evergreen numbers of Garg amid placards, demanding ‘Justice for Zubeen’ and ‘No Justice, No Rest’. (PTI)
