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death of Indian Singer and actor Zubeen Garg Singapore Due to which public anger and political turmoil has increased in his home state. AssamWhere the government faces increasing pressure to explain how one of the The region’s most beloved cultural figures died abroad under unclear circumstances,
Garg, 52, was in Singapore to perform at the Northeast India Festival when he collapsed during a boat trip on September 19. Police told The Straits Times They received a call for assistance on St. John’s Island, where officers found the singer unconscious. He was taken to Singapore General Hospital, where doctors provided intensive care and monitored his condition closely, but were unable to revive him.
At the time, police said no foul play was suspected.
Garg’s body was cremated with full state honors on September 23 at Kamarkuchi village on the outskirts of Guwahati city. Before cremation, his remains lay at the Arjun Bhogeshwar Barua Sports Complex for two days, where thousands of fans and dignitaries paid homage to him.
As his body was taken out for cremation, the crowd chanted “Jai Zubeen Da (Jai Bhai Zubeen)” and sang his iconic song “Mayabini”, a favorite song which he had once requested to be sung for him on his deathbed. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma called the departure a “final goodbye to the legend” in a tribute on Twitter, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Garg as the “Kohinoor of Assamese culture”.
A preliminary post-mortem conducted in Singapore concluded that Garg died of drowning while swimming. But, amid growing public suspicion and domestic political pressure, the Assam government ordered a second autopsy at the Gauhati Medical College in Guwahati after his body was brought back to India.
The government also ordered a judicial inquiry led by a sitting judge of the Gauhati High Court and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe possible irregularities and financial irregularities involving people who accompanied Garg to Singapore.
In the weeks following the formation of the SIT, the case progressed rapidly with a string of detentions and arrests. The first arrests occurred on 1 October, when Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma and festival organizer Shyamkanu Mahanta were detained in Delhi and brought to Guwahati.
The following day, two of Garg’s bandmates, Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta, were detained, followed on 8 October by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sandipan Garg, the singer’s cousin.
Soon after, two of Garg’s longtime personal security officers, Nandeshwar Bora and Paresh Baishya, were arrested after investigators allegedly found unexplained transactions of more than ₹10 million (£84,959) in their accounts, with police saying the money was “grossly disproportionate” to their income. Both of them had served Garg for years, having originally been assigned the job by the Assam Police after he received death threats from banned militant group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) nearly a decade ago.
According to NDTV, Garg had used officers’ accounts to collect and distribute funds for charitable causes, a claim later confirmed by his wife Garima Saikia Garg. “Zubeen had given some money to the PSO for his social work,” he said. “They have all the bank details and a diary of transactions is kept.”
In subsequent statements to the police, Goswami alleged that during Garg’s last moments he was “gasping for breath and foam was coming out of his mouth and nose”, but Sharma dismissed this as “acid reflux”. times of India Informed. According to a report, both Sharma and Mahant had said that they were avoiding returning to Assam as they feared for their safety. Indian Express.
one in statementSharma said: “Silence can be misinterpreted. Some people believe that if I don’t speak or don’t come back immediately, it would mean I have done something wrong… I want to tell everyone that I have nothing to hide. I am not running away. As soon as I am assured of my safety and get a fair opportunity to present the facts, I will come to Guwahati and present my case before the SIT and before the people.”
Meanwhile, Mahant said that the boat trip took place without the knowledge of his team.
In a statement posted on Facebook on September 19, Mahant’s team said the visit came as he was meeting with Singapore officials to promote investment in India’s northeast. The Statesman It was said.
“Some members of the local Assamese community had taken them on a boat trip, about which we had no prior knowledge,” the statement said. The Northeast India Festival, scheduled for September 20, was canceled after Garg’s death.
For many in Assam, the idea that the man whose songs united the state might have fallen victim to foul play made his loss even more difficult to bear. For the state, Garg’s blend of Assamese folk and Hindi pop gave the region a national platform it had long been denied.
Growing anger spread into the streets, with fans looking for someone to blame. In late September, a crowd clashed with police outside Sharma’s residence in Guwahati demanding his arrest, as videos of the confrontation spread online.
Candlelight processions and marches continued in Guwahati and other cities, with crowds carrying banners demanding justice and a transparent investigation into the singer’s death.
Civil society groups have also come into the field. “Zubeen was our national treasure, he was our diamond,” All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) chief advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya said at a September 25 press conference. They cited the singer’s epilepsy and previous hospitalizations following seizures in 2022 and 2024, claiming that doctors had “repeatedly told Zubeen to avoid fire and water”.
“They should not have been allowed to enter the sea,” Bhattacharya said.
Garg’s wife, who had earlier urged that the case against Sharma be dropped, later spoke out publicly about what she termed the negligence of the people accompanying the singer.
“Siddharth knew that Zubin should not have been swimming because of his health issues,” he said in a Facebook video posted on September 29. Speaking to reporters the same day, he asked, “Why didn’t they lift him from the water when they knew he was in no condition to swim?”
The tragedy has now become a political issue ahead of the Assam Assembly elections next year.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, have accused the ruling BJP-led state government of mishandling the investigation and failing to protect one of Assam’s most beloved symbols.
Citing information from the Indian High Commissioner in Singapore, Sarma has publicly stated that Garg drowned while swimming without a life jacket, claiming that he initially wore a jacket but later removed it because it was too big despite repeated warnings from the boat’s lifeguards. Indian Express Report.
“After being found floating, he was given CPR and taken to Singapore General Hospital, where doctors declared him dead,” he said.
He has vowed transparency in the investigation, saying: “Chargesheet within three months, investigation on track,” and told voters that if his government failed to deliver justice, “people should not vote for the BJP in the 2026 Assam elections.”
The All Assam Lawyers Association has asked members not to represent the accused, terming the case a matter of “conscience” and warning that defending the accused would be a “historic mistake”.
As the investigation continues, officials have said more than 60 FIRs have been filed across Assam, naming Sharma, Mahant and others, on charges of murder, culpable homicide, conspiracy and negligence.
Authorities are now awaiting material from Singapore under India’s Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, including medical records, autopsy findings and statements of those present. It is also analyzing boat recordings and video clips seen on social media, which show Garg entering the water with and then without a life jacket.
In an appeal, Garg’s wife urged that her husband’s final photographs not become a public spectacle, saying the family wished for peace. “Why is his last video being posted in parts like a web series? We just want to know the correct version and the truth.”