Guwahati: Nearly three months after the shocking and deeply emotional loss of Assamese cultural icon heart throb Zubeen Garg, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Assam Police on Friday carried an aluminium trunk into the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Boloram Khetri court — a trunk that, for many in Assam, now symbolises the fate of justice.
Inside it was the massive chargesheet that names seven accused, with murder charges pressed against four of them. But even as the SIT made a dramatic courtroom entry with 2500 pages chargesheet and over 12,000 pages of evidence and documents, the public mood remained anything but settled.
The main chargesheet alone runs to about 2,500 pages, supported by nearly 12,000 pages of digital and documentary evidence — an amount so vast that officials needed to haul it in physically.
Special DGP, CID and SIT head Munna Prasad Gupta said murder charges have been filed against Zubeen’s manager Siddharth Sharma, North East India Festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, and co singer Amrit Prabha Mahanta. Zubeen’s cousin and suspended police officer Sandipan Garg faces charges of culpable homicide, while his security personnel Nandeswar Borah and Paresh Baishya have been booked for conspiracy and breach of trust tied to alleged financial irregularities.
Gupta insisted the investigation was “thorough and error-free,” but he declined to provide key details, saying: “We have filed the chargesheet in court; everything cannot be disclosed at this stage.”
For thousands of grieving fans, this silence is painful. Many had expected clarity, or at least some narrative of what truly happened in Singapore on September 19. Instead, they received a sealed trunk and more unanswered questions.
Lawyers following the case say scrutiny of the chargesheet may begin within days because of the case’s high-profile nature. Once accepted by the magistrate, it will become accessible to the public. But some legal experts remain unconvinced.
One senior advocate said: “The incident took place in Singapore, but there was no on-ground investigation there. We had demanded a special probe. Without that, crucial gaps remain.”
The confusion deepens because the Singapore Police Force, which is conducting its own investigation, has said no signs of foul play have emerged so far — a statement that directly clashes with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s recent declaration in the Assembly that Zubeen’s death was “plain and simple murder.”
As the SIT convoy moved under heavy security to file the chargesheet, emotions ran high outside the court — a city still wrestling with disbelief, anger, and grief for a man who shaped its musical and cultural heartbeat.
For now, the trunk sits with the court, holding thousands of pages that may — or may not — contain the truth Assam has been anxiously waiting for.
But in homes across the state, Zubeen’s voice still plays softly on radios and phones, each song a reminder of the man they lost, and the answers they still seek.
