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

Dibrugarh/Guwahati: 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.