Zubeen was intoxicated, refused life vest before going for a swim, Singapore court told

Garg’s uncle Manoj Borthakur, who was present during Wednesday’s hearing in Singapore, noted the differences and ascribed them to both investigations “being conducted in different situations.” He said that only four witnesses testified on Wednesday and that the hearing is scheduled to continue next month.

“In Singapore, there is a coroner’s case which doesn’t look at a criminal angle; it only takes into account the cause of death. It confines itself to that. There is a feeling of difference between what has been presented by the Singapore police and the Assam police. Both cases have been looked into with different perspectives and conducted in different situations. Assam police is looking into the background of the incident, Singapore police is looking specifically into what happened on that particular day,” he said.

Coroner’s inquiry held in Singapore

The coroner’s inquiry being held in Singapore is a fact-finding process led by a coroner, who is a judicial officer of the courts, to establish the cause and circumstances of death.

Garg was in Singapore as a cultural brand ambassador for the North East India Festival. Before the festival began, he went for a yacht outing, reportedly organised by members of the Assam Association Singapore, and lost consciousness while swimming. He was declared dead at Singapore General Hospital. The death certificate issued by Singapore authorities stated that the cause of death was drowning.

Lim told the court that Garg had consumed alcohol and refused a life vest before jumping off the yacht, and that he became motionless as his friends tried to convince him to swim back to the yacht, reported The Straits Times. Lim said that witnesses noted that Garg did not have any suicidal tendencies and was not subjected to duress or coercion before his death.

Additionally, it stated that the police officer said Garg had 333 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood in his system, which an autopsy report said would have impacted his coordination, in comparison to the drink driving limit in Singapore of 80 mg per 100 ml of blood. Under the Motor Vehicles Act, the legal limit of alcohol for driving in India is 30 mg per 100 ml of blood.

The report also stated that the yacht captain’s assistant testified that no one had forced Garg to drink alcohol or enter the water, and that Garg and the rest of the group had been briefed on the yacht that they ought to don life jackets before swimming.

What chargesheet stated

In contrast, in its chargesheet submitted to a local court, a Special Investigating Team of the Assam police charged four persons with murder: festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma, and co-musicians Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta. His cousin and Assam Police Service officer Sandipan Garg has been charged with culpable homicide.

Mahanta was in Singapore for the festival while the other four were on the yacht when the incident happened. As reported by The Indian Express, the chargesheet alleges that those accused of murder had “caused” him to drink alcohol and get intoxicated, “caused” and “encouraged” him to swim without a life jacket, and did not do enough to save him. It also accused the manager Sharma of making plans to retire the star and “making financial gains out of him.”

SIT head Munna Prasad Gupta did not respond to requests for comment on this development.