Assam remained in mourning for the second day running, with an unexpected shutdown observed across the state in the 52-year-old cultural icon's memory. Shyamkanu Mahanta is from Assam, and he is an entrepreneur. He is the Chief Functionary of Trend MMS, a not-for-profit Socio-Cultural Trust. In 2013, Mahanta started the North East Festival in Delhi, and later, he took the festival to Bangkok. He is the organiser of the 4th North East India Festival, which was going to take place in Singapore. Zubeen had travelled to Singapore to attend the festival. In a statement shared by Mahanta and his team, they declared that members of the local Assamese community had taken the singer for a yacht visit.
An FIR has been filed against Shyamkanu Mahanta and the singer's manager Siddhartha Sharma at the Morigaon police station.
Shyamkanu Mahanta Statement on Zubeen Garg's Death
On Friday, a statement was shared on the North East India Festival's Instagram account about Zubeen's death, and it was also announced that the event had been cancelled. The statement read,
"With profound grief, we share the heartbreaking news that our beloved icon, Zubeen Garg, passed away today at Singapore General Hospital around 2:30 PM.
Zubeen had arrived in Singapore just the day before yesterday. He was scheduled to be with us at the festival tomorrow, meeting and interacting with people. Earlier today, our entire team was engaged in a business meeting with senior Singaporean industrialists and policymakers at the Shangri-La Hotel to facilitate investments in Northeast India. During the meeting, we received a call from Zubeen's manager informing us that he had met with an accident and had been rushed to Singapore General Hospital. We later learned that a few members of the local Assamese community had taken him on a yacht visit, of which we had no prior knowledge. On receiving the news, our team rushed immediately to the hospital and has since been working closely with the High Commission to complete the necessary procedures. This is a monumental loss, and words cannot express the depth of our grief. In light of this tragedy, we are cancelling the event.
We are devastated and pray for the departed soul of Zubeen Garg. Om Shanti. Shaymkanu Mahanta & Team"