Zubeen Garg was poisoned in Singapore, alleges arrested bandmate
Guwahati (PTI): In a startling claim, Zubeen Garg’s bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami has alleged that the singer was poisoned in Singapore, which led to his death, according to official documents with the police.
Goswami alleged that Garg was poisoned by his manager Siddharth Sharma and festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta in Singapore, according to the 'Detailed Grounds of Arrest' or remand note accessed by PTI.
The festival organiser, Garg’s manager and two band members – Goswami and Amritprabha Mahanta – have been arrested in the case and sent to 14 days of police remand.
Garg died under mysterious circumstances in Singapore 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 Shyamkanu Mahanta and his company.
"During the critical moments when Shri Zubeen Garg was gasping for breath, almost drowning, Siddharth Sharma was heard shouting 'Jabo de, jabo de' (let him go, let him go). The witness emphasised that Zubeen Garg was an expert swimmer... and therefore, could not have died due to drowning.
"He (Goswami) alleged that Shri Sharma and Shri Shyamkanu Mahanta had poisoned the victim and deliberately chosen a foreign venue to conceal their conspiracy. Shri Sharma also instructed him not to share the yacht videos with anyone," stated the note, signed by SIT member and senior SP Rosie Kalita.
A nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CID is currently probing the death of Garg in Singapore. The Assam government has also set up a one-man judicial commission to investigate the case.
Sources in the CID have confirmed the veracity of the remand note.
Shyamkanu Mahanta is the younger brother of former DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, who is presently the chief information commissioner of the Assam State Information Commission. Another brother of the festival organiser is Nani Gopal Mahanta, who was the education advisor to the CM before becoming the vice chancellor of Gauhati University.
"The statement of witness Shri Shekhar Jyoti Goswami... revealed that prior to the death of Zubeen Garg, a conspiracy was formulated to portray his death as accidental. He stated that Shri Siddharth Sharma, who stayed with him... in Singapore, had displayed suspicious conduct," the note said.
Quoting Goswami, the document also stated that Sharma forcibly took control of the yacht from its sailor, causing it to wobble dangerously in mid-sea, thereby endangering all passengers.
When Garg was frothing by the mouth and nose, Sharma dismissed it as acid reflux and assured others that there was nothing to worry about "instead of providing necessary medical facilities", the remand note said.
"Material evidence collected during investigation, including documentary records, financial transactions, and witness statements, prima facie establishes his (Sharma's) culpability," the 'Detailed Grounds of Arrest' stated.
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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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