Zubeen Garg's family rues political twist to his death, urges unity, fair probe

Guwahati, Oct 12: Zubeen Garg hated politics. Now his family members are dismayed over the fact that political parties are trying to gain mileage from his death.

Talking to The Assam Tribune, Zubeen’s uncle Manoj Barthakur said, “Now it seems that the political parties are trying to make Zubeen’s tragic death a political and election issue and we are dismayed over the fact.” He pointed out that Zubeen wrote, “Politics nakariba bandhu” (Don’t do politics friend). Now exactly the opposite is happening. His death has become a political issue, which is very unfortunate, Barthakur added.

Barthakur expressed the view that all fans of Zubeen are demanding an impartial probe and every political party should join hands and seek justice for Zubeen instead of indulging in political mudslinging. He also said that the probe into his death should be impartial and there should be one voice in the state in this regard.

Dismayed over some social media posts, Barthakur said that if anyone has anything to say about the tragic death of Zubeen, he or she should approach the special investigating team to record their statements instead of posting such materials on social media. He pointed out that some people even had the audacity to write posts against Garima Saikia Garg, which is very unfortunate.

Talking about Zubeen’s manager Siddhartha Sharma, who has already been arrested by the SIT, Barthakur said that Sharma took Zubeen away from his friends and family members. He said that Zubeen did not know how much he earned and he was totally reliant on his manager. “Sharma fixed the rates of each function and Zubeen did not know anything about that,” he added.

Barthakur said the Government should take steps to ensure that the intellectual property rights of all of Zubeen’s works remain with the family. “If the rights of some works are with the producers, the Government should take steps to bring that back to the family,” he demanded.