Assam CM: Summons issued to Zubeen manager, festival organiser, must appear by Oct 6

Sarma appealed to people to not make Assam like Nepal “in the name of Zubeen” amid a rising mass outcry demanding state action in connection with the singer’s untimely death on September 19. Garg’s death has triggered mass mourning and outcry in Assam.

This outrage is largely directed towards Mahanta and Sharma, with fans raising allegations of negligence and mismanagement on their part in the light of Garg’s health issues. He had reportedly experienced breathing troubles while swimming during an outing on a yacht in Singapore and the certificate of death issued by Singapore authorities recorded the condition leading to death as “drowning”.

An SIT has been set up to probe a case lodged with the CID against Shyamkanu Mahanta, Siddharth Sharma and others under sections of BNS pertaining to criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by negligence.

The outcry took a violent turn Thursday, when a crowd tried to storm inside Sharma’s Guwahati residence while an SIT team was conducting searches there and later threw stones at police vehicles leaving the address in the evening, causing police to resort to lathicharge to disperse them. The police arrested nine people in connection with the incident.

Speaking during the Facebook Live session, Sarma said: “This is Zubeen’s Assam. For whatever reason, we can’t let Assam become Nepal. For some days, in some social media the example of Nepal is being given. In Assam, we will give the example of Lachit Barphukan. We will give Maharaj Prithu’s example, Bhupen Hazarika and Zubeen… Not Nepal’s example… If even one property of Assam is damaged, the most hurt will be Zubeen Garg because this is Zubeen’s Assam. … There cannot be anti-government politics. We can’t make Assam Nepal in the name of Zubeen”.