Gaurav Gogoi writes to Jaishankar, seeks response on ‘association’ of Zubeen death case accused with MEA

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi has urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to clarify the “association” of his ministry with a key accused in connection with the death of singer Zubeen Garg.

Gogoi has also sought a statement from Jaishankar over Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s claim that Garg’s death in Singapore was an incident of murder.

Garg had died while swimming in the sea in Singapore on September 19. He was in the island nation to participate in the North East India Festival (NEIF), 2025.

The SIT of Assam Police has so far arrested seven people in the case, including the chief organiser of the festival, Shyamkanu Mahanta.

Gogoi, in a letter to Jaishankar on Thursday, said that the festival was organised by the Ministry of External Affairs with support from the High Commission of India in Singapore.

The Congress leader pointed out that one of the accused in the ongoing police investigation was “directly associated with the organisation of the festival”, in an apparent reference to Mahanta.

Gogoi alleged that the accused ran an organisation, which has received payments amounting to several lakhs of rupees from Jaishankar’s ministry for holding festivals and events.

“The relationship between the Ministry of External Afairs and a person who is one of the accused in a murder as claimed by the Chief Minister of Assam is deeply troubling,” he said.

“I am bringing this to your attention and requesting the Ministry to issue a statement regarding the claim of the Chief Minister of Assam, and also clarify the association between senior leadership of Ministry of External Affairs and the one of the accused in the case,” Gogoi said.

The Congress MP stressed that Garg was in Singapore to attend the NEIF, a programme “coordinated under the auspices of the Ministry of External Affairs and the High Commission of India”, and the truth behind his death must be revealed.

Drawing attention of Jaishankar to Sarma’s statement in the state assembly recently, Gogoi wrote: “The Chief Minister stated that, based on findings of the Special Investigation Team of the Assam Police, Shri Zubeen Garg’s death ‘was a murder’, allegedly planned and executed by a group of individuals, with multiple accused now being booked.”     He also maintained that it was unfortunate that the festival was held in Singapore from September 19-21, even after the death of one of the biggest icons of northeast India.

Gogoi criticised Sarma for “delay” in specifying the date for filing of chargesheet in the case.

“It is unfortunate that the chief minister has not been able to fix the date when the chargesheet will be filed,” he said at a press conference in Dibrugarh.

Asked about the chargesheet filing likely to coincide with the concert of American singer-rapper Post Malone on Monday in Guwahati, he said, “I view both the matters differently. We want to know who is the organiser of that show. Is there any role of the CM’s family in it? Details should be shared.”

“The date for Post Malone’s show is fixed, but not the date for filing the chargesheet in the death case of our heartthrob,” he alleged.

Within hours of Gogoi’s comments, however, a top official of the SIT announced at a pre-scheduled presser in Guwahati that the chargesheet will be submitted before the court on December 12.

Gogoi added: “Given that the event was an official Government of India engagement, coordinated under the auspices of the Ministry of External Affairs and the High Commission of India, it is imperative that public and the family of late Zubeen Garg receive truth and justice.” The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is also carrying out an independent investigation into Garg’s alleged drowning in the sea.

In a statement on October 17, the SPF had said that preliminary investigations have not indicated any foul play in Garg’s death, and that the probe may take up to another three months.