Garg passed away in Singapore on September 19 after an alleged drowning incident. His body was brought back to Delhi and later flown to Guwahati on Sunday morning. He had travelled to Singapore for the Northeast India Festival.
Leader of Opposition in the Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, has written to President Droupadi Murmu demanding a CBI probe, led by a High Court judge, into the sudden demise of Assam’s cultural icon Zubeen Garg.
Garg passed away in Singapore on September 19 after an alleged drowning incident. His body was brought back to Delhi and later flown to Guwahati on Sunday morning. He had travelled to Singapore for the Northeast India Festival.
In his letter, Saikia described Garg as more than just a singer, a “revolutionary voice of resistance against government policies,” and recalled his strong opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He highlighted Garg’s role in anti-CAA protests, his protest songs, and his outspoken views on environmental issues.
Saikia raised concerns about the state CID probe, saying it faces jurisdictional limits since the incident happened in Singapore. He added that only central agencies can collect evidence internationally.
The LoP also alleged troubling circumstances before Garg’s death, claiming the singer confided to close associates about being pressured to travel with limited company, unlike his usual routine. He flagged contradictions in statements by festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, who earlier promoted Garg’s participation but later said he came “only to rest.”
Further, Saikia pointed to discrepancies around whether Garg went scuba diving or swimming, and stressed that despite his known seizure disorder, he was encouraged to swim without a life jacket. “A fatal seizure occurred exactly as his medical history would predict,” the letter noted. He suggested the sequence of events hinted at “systematic planning” to eliminate Assam’s most powerful cultural voice.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday that he has instructed the DGP to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. “We will not spare anyone. The SIT will have full freedom to investigate with complete professional integrity,” Sarma wrote on X.
He added that Garg’s viscera samples will be sent to the Central Forensic Laboratory in Delhi for further tests.
