GUWAHATI: “During Zubeen Garg’s final moments, when he was gasping for breath and frothing at the mouth and nose, Siddharth Sharma dismissed the symptoms as ‘acid reflux’ and was heard shouting, ‘Jabo de, jabo de’ (let him go, let him go),” alleged Shekhar Jyoti Goswami, the singer’s bandmate. Goswami added that Garg, an expert swimmer who had trained both him and Sharma, could not have drowned accidentally.

Following this account, Garg’s long-time manager, Siddharth Sharma, was arrested by the SIT on October 1 on charges of criminal conspiracy, murder, and culpable homicide not amounting to murder, after key witnesses alleged that the singer had been “poisoned.” The 52-year-old singer died under mysterious circumstances on September 19 while swimming off Singapore’s Lazarus Island during a yacht outing organized as part of the 4th edition of the Northeast India Festival. Initial reports had cited drowning, but the SIT’s remand note paints a far more sinister picture. Goswami further alleged that Sharma forcibly took control of the yacht, causing it to wobble dangerously, and personally supplied liquor while instructing organisers not to arrange drinks—raising suspicions about what was provided. Statements from co-singer Amrit Prabha Mahanta and actress Nishita Goswami corroborated that Sharma had facilitated Garg’s access to liquor and inappropriate company, including arranging shared accommodation with his female co-singer at Pan Pacific Hotel, Singapore. The remand note also highlights Sharma’s failure to provide any satisfactory explanation for the supply of liquor and women to Garg prior to his death. Documentary evidence, financial records, and witness statements prima facie establish Sharma’s culpability in what is now being treated as a premeditated act of murder.