Zubeen Garg Death: Violence Erupts Outside Assam Jail As Fans Attack Convoy

New Delhi: Tension gripped Assam’s Baksa district on Wednesday as violent protests erupted outside the district jail following the arrival of five accused in the Zubeen Garg death case. The situation soon spiralled out of control when enraged fans and local residents attacked the police convoy carrying the accused, pelting stones and setting vehicles ablaze.

According to police officials, protesters breached barricades and hurled stones at the vehicles transporting the accused to the jail. At least three police vehicles were torched and tyres were seen burning on the road leading to the jail. Some policemen sustained injuries in the stone-pelting. In response, police resorted to using tear gas shells and firing blanks in the air to disperse the crowd.

The five accused — event organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer’s manager Siddharth Sharma, cousin and suspended APS officer Sandipan Garg and two PSOs, including Nandeswar Bora — were earlier sent to judicial custody by the Chief Judicial Magistrate and lodged in Baksa jail amid tight security. The mob, however, demanded that the accused be handed over to the public, raising slogans and expressing anger over “slow” probe into the singer’s death.

The police have reinforced security around the jail and key government buildings in the district to prevent further flare-ups.

Zubeen Garg, one of the state’s most loved and influential artistes, had died under mysterious circumstances in Singapore on September 19. His death certificate cited drowning as the cause.

Following widespread outrage, the Assam government set up a nine-member SIT to probe the case and invoked the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with Singapore to access crucial evidence. A judicial commission headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia of the Gauhati High Court has also been constituted to independently examine the circumstances of the death.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has assured that a chargesheet will be filed within three months, stressing that the probe remains “on track”.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had questioned Mahanta and the two PSOs in connection with suspicious financial transactions. Both officers were suspended as investigators examined whether their actions were linked to Garg’s death.

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