Akhil Gogoi calls Assam CID chargesheet on Zubeen Garg ‘politically motivated’
Guwahati: Raijor Dal chief and Sivasagar legislator Akhil Gogoi on Friday questioned the credibility and intent of the chargesheet filed by the Assam CID in connection with the death of singer Zubeen Garg.
Talking to the media, he alleged that the probe was politically motivated, procedurally flawed, and prepared without visiting the actual incident site in Singapore.
Gogoi said, "This document is a piece of fantasy. This is not Zubeen da’s murder chargesheet; this is Himanta Biswa Sarma’s election manifesto for 2026. For the past 84 days, the Chief Minister has created a politically convenient narrative instead of addressing the questions raised by the people of Assam."
He claimed the government rushed the report to influence the upcoming 2026 elections and mislead the public.
He alleged that the chargesheet submitted by the Assam CID was “crafted for political advantage” rather than based on factual and scientific inquiry.
Raising procedural objections, Gogoi questioned how a chargesheet could be filed without visiting the incident site in Singapore. “How can an investigating officer file a chargesheet without even travelling to Singapore?” he asked. “This is the first chargesheet in the world prepared without visiting the crime scene.”
He further alleged that the government rushed the chargesheet to prevent the kind of public backlash the BJP faced during the anti-CAA movement.
According to Gogoi, the intention was to ensure BJP workers could freely enter villages during the upcoming election season without facing public anger.
Gogoi also referred to legal precedents, saying he had repeatedly highlighted the Madras High Court verdict in the Jayalalithaa case, which emphasised that investigations into incidents outside India must follow international procedures.
He asserted that this requirement was completely ignored by the authorities.
He dismissed the government’s claim that 3,500 documents and 7,000 statements were collected during the probe, calling them meaningless without proper ground verification. “They have not even examined the water where Zubeen da reportedly drowned, yet they proceeded with a chargesheet. If it were up to me, I would have torn it apart,” he remarked.
Gogoi accused the Chief Minister of making claims about a murder motive without explaining how the murder was supposed to have taken place.
He alleged that the chargesheet was built in a way that “gives the guilty a chance to escape rather than ensuring punishment.”
He also criticised the Chief Minister’s remark that the matter now rests with the court. “How can the court deliver justice when the foundation itself is flawed? Even if you bang your head against a wall, justice cannot happen in this manner,” he said.
Concluding his remarks, Gogoi reiterated that the chargesheet was “strategically timed” and “politically designed” to influence the environment ahead of the 2026 Assam elections.