2 more persons arrested in singer Zubeen Garg's death
Guwahati (PTI): Musician Shakharjyoti Goswami and singer Amritprabha Mahanta were arrested on Thursday in connection with the death of singer Zubeen Garg, police said.
Garg's musician Goswami and singer Amritprabha, who were present at the spot when the incident happened, were called for interrogation during the day and later arrested, they said.
"We have found some evidence against them. So, to enquire further, their arrest was necessary," an officer said.
With this, four persons were arrested in the case, including Garg's manager Siddharth Sharma and festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, police said.
Mahanta and Sarma were arrested on Wednesday and booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, criminal conspiracy and causing death by negligence, they said.
Special DGP of the Assam Police's CID Munna Prasad Gupta told reporters that the interrogation of Mahanta and Sarma is underway after a court remanded them to 14-day police custody.
"The investigation is going on, and I cannot share much detail. We have added Section 103 of the BNS in the FIR now," he said.
Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) deals with the punishment for murder. It mandates that whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and a fine.
Shyamkanu is the younger brother of former DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, who is presently the Chief Information Commissioner of the Assam State Information Commission. His another elder brother is Nani Gopal Mahanta, who was the Education Advisor to CM Himanta Biswa Sarma before becoming the vice chancellor of Gauhati University.
The CID is probing the case of Garg's death after more than 60 FIRs have been lodged across the state against Mahanta, the chief organiser of the Northeast India Festival, where the singer had gone to perform, and almost 10 others, including the icon's manager, Sharma.
Meanwhile, Gupta said that the report of the autopsy conducted in Singapore will be handed over to Garg's family after completion of the formalities.
"The Singaporean authorities also did their investigation. The autopsy report from them will be directly shared with the family as per protocol. As per our information, they have already contacted Garg's family and will share the report soon," he said.
When asked about the second post-mortem examination carried out in Guwahati, the special DGP said the authority is waiting for the report on the viscera sample, which was sent to the Central Forensic Laboratory (CFL) in Delhi for a detailed examination.
"Once the viscera report is received, I guess the post-mortem report by the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital will be ready and available to us," Gupta said.
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 Mahanta and his company.
Assam Police formed a nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case.
Gupta, who is heading the SIT, said a team will leave for Singapore to collect evidence and other details related to the case once it gets approval from that country.
"Our team is ready to go to Singapore. There are some formalities to be done. We have sent the request through the proper channel, and it will take some time. Once they inform us, our team will go," he said.
The Indian government has invoked the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with Singapore, seeking cooperation in the investigation into the death of the singer in the Southeast Asian country.
Gupta said the CID has already issued notices to all people who were present or aware of the events leading to singer Zubeen Garg's death in Singapore, asking them to appear before its officers.
"We have served notices to the members of the Assam Association Singapore. As it is a foreign nation, we cannot directly go and nab them. The notices were served through the Indian High Commission and the Singaporean authority," he said.
Gupta also said they have quizzed Sandipan Garg, a Deputy SP and cousin of the singer, who was present with him during the incident.
"We have interrogated musician Shekharjyoti and singer Amritprava, who were with Garg at the time of his death. Beyond this, I cannot share any further details," he added.
Assam Police earlier initiated a separate probe against event manager Shyamkanu Mahanta for alleged organised financial crimes and acquiring huge amounts of benami properties by money laundering.
The CID claimed that it seized bundles of incriminating documents and other items from his home during the raid on September 25 and 26, such as multiple PAN cards in the name of the same firm, nearly 30 stamp seals of different companies and government officials, and documents related to several benami properties.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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