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New Delhi: Assam Chief Information Commissioner, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta resigned after his brother was charged in the death case of popular singer Zubeen Garg. The officer resigned after reportedly receiving several RTI applications regarding his brother, Shyamkanu Mahanta's, involvement in the matter.Shyamkanu was reportedly one of the organisers of the North East India Festival, in which Zubeen Garg was set to perform in Singapore.
According to a report in NDTV, Mahanta resigned on the recommendation of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma. While recommending his resignation, Sarma cited a "clash of interest".
Zubeen Garg died on September 19 in Singapore. His death happened after he jumped off a boat into the sea. Reports at the time said that his death happened due to drowning. However soon after his death was classified as having occurred under mysterious circumstances.
An investigation started in Assam, led by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Assam Police. The team has so far arrested 7 people in the matter, including Shyamkanu Mahanta. The others arrested in the case include Garg's cousin Sandipan Garg, a Deputy Superintendent in the Assam Police, his manager Siddharth Sharma and 2 of his band members. Apart from them, 2 security officers of the singer have also been taken into custody.
The 2 private security personnel, Nandeswar Bora and Paresh Baishya, were arrested after suspicious transactions amounting to Rs 1.1 crore was found in their bank accounts. Investigators are now probing this financial transaction and trying to understand if this had any links to the death of Zubeen Garg.
Apart from this efforts are also being made to piece together the sequence of events 48 hours prior to the death of the singer.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had created a stir, when he claimed that Garg's death "was not an accident." He seemed to be hinting that the state's icon was allegedly murdered. He said that a chargesheet in the case will be filed latest by December 17. The CM however claimed that efforts were on to get the chargesheet filed by December 8 and fast track the case.
All the accused have been sent to judicial custody till November 11. The authorities in Singapore had handed over an initial autopsy report of the singer to Indian investigators.
