Silchar: The special investigation team (SIT) of Assam Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has taken into custody two personal security officers (PSOs) of the late singer Zubeen Garg. The arrests were made on Friday following the detection of unusual financial transactions amounting to over ₹1 crore in their personal bank accounts.
Nandeswar Bora and Paresh Baishya, the PSOs in question, were apprehended late Thursday night and presented before a district court on Friday morning. The court has remanded them to five days of police custody for further interrogation, according to an officer privy to the development.
Both Bora and Baishya had been suspended by the Assam Police after an investigation revealed substantial, unexplained financial activity in their accounts. Reports indicate Bora’s account showed transactions of approximately ₹70 lakh, while Baishya’s account had over ₹40 lakh in transactions that do not align with their known sources of income over the past four to five years.
Investigators are now working to determine if these suspicious financial activities are connected to the circumstances of Zubeen Garg’s death, which occurred in Singapore last month following a swimming incident.
However, family members of the arrested officers have offered an alternative explanation. They suggest that Zubeen Garg had utilized their bank accounts to manage and distribute funds designated for charitable purposes.
Zubeen Garg’s wife, Garima Saikia Garg, corroborated this, stating that her husband had indeed entrusted money to his PSOs. She emphasized that these funds were intended solely for philanthropic initiatives, adding, “Zubeen had given some money to the PSOs for social work.”
These arrests bring the total number of individuals taken into custody in connection with Zubeen Garg’s death to seven. Previously, the SIT had arrested Shyamkanu Mahanta, Zubeen’s Singapore festival organiser, and his secretary Siddharth Sharma on October 1. Subsequently, musicians Amritprabha Mahanta and Shekhar Jyoti Goswami were also arrested and remanded for 14 days. Zubeen’s cousin, Sandipan Garg, was arrested earlier this week, with several other individuals also being questioned.
Also Read: Zubeen Garg’s cousin, Assam Police officer, suspended after arrest in singer’s death case