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Assam To Set Up Judicial Commission To Probe Zubeen Garg's Death: CM Himanta

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said a judicial commission will be formed to probe the death of the state's cultural icon Zubeen Garg. The commission will be headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia of the Gauhati High Court, he said in a Facebook live. "We will form the commission tomorrow. Now, we request all the people who have any information or videos related to Zubeen Garg's death to come forward and depose in front of the commission," he added. Garg died under mysterious circumstances in Singapore on September 19 while swimming in the sea. He had gone to the Southeast Asian nation to attend the 4th edition of the NorthEast India Festival, organised by Shyamkanu Mahanta and his company. The CID is currently probing the case of Garg's death after more than 60 FIRs have been lodged across the state against Mahanta and almost 10 others, including the icon's manager Siddharth Sharma and band members Shekharjyoti Goswami and Amritprabha Mahanta. Sarma said, "We had requested the chief justice of the Gauhati HC to nominate a judicial commission and appoint one sitting judge instead of a retired judge. He has accepted our request and approved Justice Saikia to head this panel. I thank the chief justice of the Gauhati HC." He said that, usually, a sitting high court judge does not head a judicial commission, and only once or twice has it happened in the state. "Now, those who had shared different information related to Zubeen's death on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (X), it is their duty to submit an affidavit in front of the commission," he said. The government will keep a track of all those who have said "many things till now" and see if they will fulfil their responsibility, he said. "Now, the ball will be in their court. From their action, we will come to know who the real follower of Zubeen Garg is," he added. Already, four people have been arrested in the case. Without sharing details, the CM claimed that some people were trying to derail the investigation into the death of the singer. "Some instigated the public to attack police while they were doing their work. It seems a section is trying to take revenge on me because I carried out eviction drives to clear encroachment. If someone wants to take revenge, they should not take it in the name of Zubeen," he stressed. Sarma asserted that despite all such attempts to "divert" the topic, eviction will continue to clear public land from encroachment. He said AI-generated photos of Shyamkanu Mahanta smiling after his arrest have been shared on social media by a "particular circle" to defame the government. He also criticised Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia and MLA Akhil Gogoi for seeking a CBI probe into the case, and appealed to all to have faith in the state police. "We have been able to secure 14 days' police remand for all four arrested persons. The court usually does not give such a long police remand at one go," he said. "Now, the government requests members of the Assam Association of Singapore, who were accompanying the singer on the day of his death, to come forward and give their statement," he said. Sarma said that otherwise, it will have to take action against them. "We handed over the report of the post-mortem done in Singapore to Zubeen's wife, Garima, yesterday. The report of the second post-mortem done at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital will be given to her tomorrow," he said. "It is up to Garima whether she makes the post-mortem reports public or not," he said.

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