GUWAHATI: Three more Singapore-based Assamese expats, who were on the yacht on September 19 during music icon Zubeen Garg’s last moments, deposed before the Assam Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday, thus giving fresh impetus to the ongoing probe.
Jiolangsat Narzary, Parikshit Sharma, and Siddhartha Bora faced the investigators immediately after reaching the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the morning.
Last week, another Assamese expat, Rupkamal Kalita, deposed before the SIT and was allowed to leave following interrogation.
SIT chief and Special DGP (CID) Munna Prasad Gupta was confident the other expats would arrive soon. There were altogether 11 of them on the fateful day.
“We learnt that one more is coming today. We are expecting some others tomorrow. We had sent notices asking them to physically depose before the SIT,” Gupta told the media.
He dismissed reports about making the final post-mortem report public, stating that it will be submitted in the court. The first post-mortem was conducted in Singapore.
“Investigation is progressing well. We are working hard to take it to a logical end,” he stated.
Immediately after launching the probe, the Assam Police had sent a request under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to Singapore through the Ministry of Home Affairs, seeking details of the crime scene, statements, etc, and permission to conduct a probe there. The permission is still awaited.
“Our request under MLAT has reached Singapore, and it is with the country’s Attorney General. We sought permission to go there and conduct an investigation. We will go as and when we get permission. We are ready. We also sought inputs that are required. We hope we will get them soon,” Gupta said.
He said the SIT was actively pursuing matters regarding inspecting the place of occurrence, etc, through the Indian High Commission.
“They (Singapore) are also conducting a probe. They sought certain inputs from us, and we shared those. Once their investigation is over, we will get to know their findings. As for the SIT, it is conducting the investigation as per the law,” Gupta said.
Garg had died under mysterious circumstances while swimming at a sea in Singapore. He was there to perform at the 4th North East India Festival (NEIF) the next day.
Seven people have been arrested so far -- NEIF organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma, DSP cousin Sandipan Garg, bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, personal security officers Nandeswar Bora, Paresh Baishya, and singer Amrit Prabha Mahanta. Goswami had claimed Garg was poisoned by Sharma and the NEIF organiser.
Viscera samples, collected after the conduct of the second autopsy at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), were sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Delhi. Subsequently, the report was examined by an expert committee of the GMCH. The final post-mortem and viscera reports are now with the SIT.
