BREAKING: Shyamkanu Mahanta, Siddharth Sharma Arrested, Brought To Guwahati

In a major development in the probe into the death of music icon Zubeen Garg, his manager Siddhartha Sharma and North East India Festival (NEIF) chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta were arrested on Wednesday morning.

According to sources, Sharma was picked up from an apartment in Gurgaon, while Mahanta was detained at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport after returning from Singapore. Both were flown to Guwahati on the same day by Air India flight IX1197, which landed at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport at 6:42 AM.

The two were escorted out of the airport in a bulletproof vehicle amid unprecedented security. More than 180 personnel from Assam Police, CRPF and RAF created a strong security cordon for their transfer. Barricades were also erected around the airport premises.

The operation was closely monitored by Guwahati Police Commissioner Partha Sarathi Mahanta, SIT chief Raji Kalita and senior CID officials. Even the vehicle used in their transport, bearing registration number AS 30 7559, was moved under the same protocol.

Earlier, the Assam government constituted a 10-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Special DGP M P Gupta, to probe Garg’s death in Singapore on September 19. The popular singer had died of drowning in the sea during a visit to the island nation.

The SIT had issued summons to several individuals, including Mahanta, Sharma, members of the Singapore Assam Association, and others who had travelled for the festival where Garg was present, asking them to appear and record their statements.

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