The death of Indian singer and actor Zubeen Garg in Singapore has led to mounting public anger and political upheaval in his home state of Assam, where the government is facing growing pressure to explain how one of the region’s most beloved cultural figures died under unclear circumstances abroad.
Garg, 52, was in Singapore to perform at the Northeast India Festival when he collapsed during a yacht outing on 19 September. Police told The Straits Times that they received a call for assistance at St John’s Island, where officers found the singer unconscious. He was taken to the 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 honours on 23 September at Kamarkuchi village, on the outskirts of Guwahati city. Before the cremation, his remains lay in state for two days at the Arjun Bhogeswar Baruah Sports Complex, where thousands of fans and dignitaries paid their respects.
As his body was taken for cremation, crowds chanted “Jai Zubeen Da (hail brother Zubeen)” and sang his iconic song “Mayabini”, a favourite he once requested be sung for him at his death. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma called the farewell “the final goodbye to the legend” in a tribute on X, formerly Twitter, and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi described Garg as the “Kohinoor of Assamese culture”.
An initial post-mortem conducted in Singapore concluded that Garg had died by drowning while swimming. But, amid growing public scepticism and political pressure at home, the Assam government ordered a second autopsy at Gauhati Medical College in Guwahati after his body was flown 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 also formed to look into possible foul play and financial irregularities among those who accompanied Garg to Singapore.
In the weeks since the SIT was formed, the case moved rapidly through a sequence of detentions and arrests. The first arrest came on 1 October, when Garg’s manager Siddhartha Sharma and festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta were taken into custody in Delhi and brought to Guwahati.
The next day, two of Garg’s bandmates, Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta, were detained, followed by deputy superintendent of police, Sandipan Garg, the singer’s cousin, on 8 October.
Soon after, two of Garg’s long-time personal security officers, Nandeswar Bora and Paresh Baishya, were arrested after investigators allegedly found unexplained transactions of over Rs 10m (£84,959) in their accounts, money police said was “grossly disproportionate” to their incomes. Both had served Garg for years, originally assigned to him by the Assam Police after he received death threats from the banned militant group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) nearly a decade ago.
According to NDTV, Garg had used the officers’ accounts to store and distribute funds for charitable causes, a claim later confirmed by his wife, Garima Saikia Garg. “Zubeen had given some money to the PSOs for the social work he does,” she said. “They have all the bank statements and maintained a diary of transactions.”
In later statements to the police, Goswami alleged that during Garg’s final moments he was “gasping for breath and frothing at the mouth and nose,” but Sharma dismissed it as “acid reflux”, the Times of India reported. Both Sharma and Mahanta had said they were avoiding returning to Assam as they feared threats to their safety, according to a report in the Indian Express.
In a statement, Sharma said: “Silence can be misunderstood. Some people believe that if I do not speak or return immediately, it must 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 there is an assurance of my safety and a fair opportunity to present the facts, I will come to Guwahati and place my side before the SIT and before the people.”
Mahanta, meanwhile, maintained that the yacht trip took place without his team’s knowledge.
In a Facebook statement posted on 19 September, Mahanta’s team said the trip had taken place while they were in meetings with Singaporean officials to promote investment in India’s northeast, a report in The Statesman stated.
“A few members of the local Assamese community had taken him on a yacht visit, of which we had no prior knowledge,” the statement said. The Northeast India Festival, scheduled for 20 September, was cancelled following Garg’s death.
To many in Assam, the thought that the man whose songs united the state could have been a victim of foul play has made his loss even harder to bear. To the state, Garg’s blend of Assamese folk and Hindi pop gave the region a national platform it had long been denied.
The mounting anger spilled onto the streets, with fans looking for someone to blame. Crowds clashed with police outside Sharma’s Guwahati residence in late September, demanding his arrest, as videos of the confrontation spread online.
Candlelight vigils and marches have continued across Guwahati and other towns, and crowds holding banners have called for justice and a transparent investigation into the singer’s death.
Civil society groups too have waded into the fray. “Zubeen was our national treasure, he was our diamond,” said Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya, chief advisor of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), at a 25 September press conference. He claimed doctors had “repeatedly told Zubeen to avoid fire and water”, citing the singer’s epilepsy and previous hospitalisations after seizures in 2022 and 2024.
“He should not have been allowed to enter the sea,” Bhattacharya said.
Garg’s wife, who earlier urged that the case against Sharma be dropped, later spoke publicly about what she described as negligence by those accompanying the singer.
In a Facebook video posted on 29 September, she said, “Siddarth knew that Zubeen was not supposed to swim because of his health issues.” Speaking to reporters the same day, she asked, “Why did they not lift him from the water when they knew he was not in a condition to swim?”
The tragedy has now evolved into a politically charged issue ahead of next year’s Assam assembly elections.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, have accused the ruling BJP-led state government of mishandling the probe and failing to protect one of Assam’s most beloved icons.
Sarma has publicly maintained that Garg drowned while swimming without a life jacket, claiming he initially wore one but then removed it because it was oversized despite repeated warnings from the yacht’s lifeguards, citing information from the Indian High Commissioner in Singapore, according to an Indian Express report.
“After being found floating, he was given CPR and rushed to Singapore General Hospital, where doctors declared him dead,” he said.
He has vowed transparency with the investigation, saying: “Chargesheet within three months, the probe is on track,” and told voters that if his government failed to deliver justice, “people should not vote for the BJP in the 2026 Assam election.”
The All Assam Lawyers’ Association has asked members not to represent the accused, calling the case a matter of “conscience” and warning that it would be a “historic mistake” to defend those charged.
As the investigation continues, authorities have said over 60 FIRs across Assam have been filed, naming Sharma, Mahanta and others, covering 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 from those who were present. It is also analysing yacht recordings and video clips seen on social media which appear to show Garg entering the water with and then without a life jacket.
In an appeal, Garg’s wife urged that the last images of her husband not become public spectacle, saying the family wished for peace. “Why are his last videos being posted in parts, just like a web series? We just want to know the correct version, and the truth.”
