Bandmate, Co-Singer Arrested In Zubeen Garg Death Case, Total Now 4: Sources

The Assam Police SIT investigating the death of singer Zubeen Garg has arrested his bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and co-singer Amritprava Mahanta, taking the total arrests in the case to four, sources told NDTV on Thursday. 

Both Goswami and Mahanta were with Garg at the yacht party during the North East India Festival on September 19. The 52-year-old went for a swim and was found floating face down in the water. 

Sources in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) said Goswami was seen, in videos, swimming very close to Garg while Mahanta recorded the entire incident on her cellphone. Both of them were questioned over the past six days.

Garg's manager Siddharth Sharma and North East India Festival manager Shyamkanu Mahanta were arrested on Wednesday, and the sources said they need to interrogate Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta with them.

Earlier on Thursday, Sharma and Shyamkanu Mahanta were charged with murder, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy, and causing death by negligence in connection with Garg's death. 

"The investigation is going on and I cannot share details at this time but we have added charges under Section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita," Munna Gupta, the Special Director General of Police of Assam's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), who is heading the SIT, said. 

The singer's wife, Garima Garg, said she has full faith in the justice system and everyone wants to know who is guilty of what crime.

"The investigation is ongoing and they are handling it in their own way. Therefore, we should not comment on it right now. I do not have much knowledge about it, so the law will take its own course. I have full faith that we will receive justice through our legal system, and the investigation will be conducted properly. We will soon learn what really happened that day, and we want to know who is guilty of what. If anyone is responsible, they will be punished very soon," she told news agency ANI. 

SIT head Gupta said the team is waiting to collect evidence from Singapore when it gets approval to visit the country.

"Our team is ready to go to Singapore. There are some formalities to be done. We have sent the request through the proper channels, and it will take some time," he said.