In an exclusive conversation with India Today TV, Garima Saikia Garg, wife of the late singer Zubeen Garg, raised serious questions about the circumstances of his death in Singapore and said he was forcefully taken to the water.
00:00Let me go straight to Guwahati, where Garima Saikia Garg is joining me live.
00:07Garima ji, I know this is a heartbreaking moment for you and your family.
00:12With utmost respect for your grief, we would like to hear your heart, your memories and your truth.
00:20Ma'am, there are reports suggesting that Zubin's death was caused by drowning.
00:25Now, the Singapore police force has also said that in its first autopsy report that there is no foul play.
00:33They have ruled out foul play.
00:35But for you as his wife, what do you want people to understand about those final moments?
00:46Whatever I have seen from the videos circulated in social media,
00:50it's very clear that Zubin was extremely exhausted on that day.
00:58And he was, while he was taken on a yacht to, on a yacht party, for a yacht party,
01:05and he was taken into water.
01:07Then once he swam and then came back, then he was very exhausted.
01:13Again, he was taken into water without a life check.
01:16So, when there was, his manager was around, when his band members were around,
01:23two of his band members were around,
01:25and then the organizer, even the organizer, Mr. Shriam Khandi Mohandar,
01:29he claims to be a very close friend of ours, like a family member.
01:34So, why Zubin was not taken care of properly?
01:38Why everyone knew that Zubin was, he had some medical issues, he had seizure attacks before.
01:44So, the doctor had advised him to refrain from swimming, from water,
01:52to stay away from water and fire.
01:55And we never allowed him driving also.
01:57And then, in that situation, he was taken into water.
02:01Then he was allowed to swim without a life check.
02:04So, that's the question for us.
02:09Why he was treated like that?
02:11Why he was not having proper medical assistance?
02:14Why he didn't have any security assistance?
02:17Why he was not taken care of?
02:18Why he had to face all this negligence?
02:22Because Zubin was not only my husband.
02:25Zubin was the legend.
02:26Zubin was a legendary artist.
02:28Zubin was everyone's heartbeat.
02:30He was called the heartthrope of Assam.
02:32He was called the heartthrope of North East India.
02:34So, everyone loved him like anything.
02:38And that artist was so badly neglected.
02:43And happiness, you finally.
02:45Absolutely.
02:46I understand.
02:49It must be extremely unsettling for you, Garimaji.
02:52You have raised some, you know, very concerning points with regards to his health condition that he was also exhausted on that particular day.
03:03Did his manager know about his health condition?
03:07Did Siddharth Sharma and also the festival organizer, Mr. Mahanta, know that Zubin Garg had to stay away from fire and also from water?
03:17Yes, yes.
03:19Since 2020, when he had his first seizure attack, since that time, Siddharth, Mr. Siamkarno Mohanta, Sheikh Hargur Swamy, everyone knew about him.
03:30Everyone, everyone in Assam, everyone knew about his condition.
03:34What doctor had advised on media also, everywhere they got to see.
03:39And these people were all the time around him.
03:42So, as I knew, as our family members knew, they were also in the same place.
03:47Everything was in the same place.
03:49Still, he was not properly taken care of.
03:52What are the questions weighing most heavily on your heart?
03:56Because even as the SIT team met you some time back, and the reports coming in of two arrests which have happened already.
04:05So, in all four arrests in this case.
04:08See, even though I have questions for those Assam Association members who were present in Singapore at that time on the field, they were also around.
04:20So, there were more than 10, 15 people.
04:24So, why no one was even concerned about Siddharth, and now since the proceedings are on, the investigations are on.
04:32So, I have deep faith in our legal system, the government also, and on the VCM, he has also taken this case very seriously.
04:41Because, it's the case of Siddharth, so everyone is very much concerned, and I have deep faith in our legal system.
04:52I hope I'll get to know the truth very soon, and I have requested for a faster investigation also, so the truth will come out soon.
05:00When was the last time you spoke to your husband, and when he was traveling for this festival to Singapore, did both of you have some conversation around it?
05:14Yes, when he boarded, and also he messaged me, when he arrived in Singapore, then also he messaged me, we spoke.
05:23And then on 18th, I spoke for the last time.
05:27On 18th, he, but he never mentioned about the Yacht party that was arranged for next year.
05:32So, I feel that he might also have not known about it, otherwise he would have pretty excitedly informed me about the, you know, that these arrangements, that some association members are arranging these things for us, so I will be going for a yacht ride or something.
05:52But he never told me anything, so I don't know whether he or himself knew about it.
05:57And I saw his videos circulating around that the previous night, he was enjoying a musical evening.
06:06He sang cheers, you know, cheers in heaven.
06:10He was singing along with some singer, the gnom and no cry.
06:15So he was enjoying the evening musical.
06:18And then next morning, I think he was not allowed to sleep.
06:21He loved to sleep during the daytime.
06:24Mostly that is his habit.
06:25He sleeps during the daytime, he works from afternoon or from evening, he works till late night.
06:32But that day, I think that he was, you know, forcefully taken to the water.
06:38He was woken up early and then he was taken forcefully, maybe.
06:44Because he didn't change the dress, what he was wearing the previous night.
06:50So you spoke to your husband in the morning of that yacht party?
06:5419, 19th morning, no, I think he didn't call me.
06:57And I thought he must be sleeping because he always was breathing the daytime he sleeps.
07:02And then when he wakes up in the afternoon, he calls me himself.
07:06I don't really, when none of our family members or our friends, we never disturb him during his sleep.
07:13We don't fall on it.
07:15So I was expecting he would wake up and then he will be in the morning.
07:19I didn't know he was on a yacht or he was taken to the middle of the sea.
07:27So when, how did you know about his demise?
07:31Who called you?
07:33Who told you?
07:33Who communicated to you?
07:35Siddharth only, you know, I got a call from his management from here in Ashram that he just gave a call to Siddharth.
07:46Then I called Siddharth.
07:47He was crying.
07:48He was just howling and he was crying and he said, Dada, Dada, I just could hear those sounds.
07:55Then I thought, what's wrong with Dada?
07:58Just tell me.
07:59And Siddharth couldn't speak anything.
08:01He said, did he have a seizure attack?
08:02Like, what happened?
08:03I, continuously I had been asking questions and then he just kept saying Dada, Dada, Dada.
08:11And then I, all of a sudden I heard some word like CPR.
08:17He was, so CPR, why CPR?
08:19He never had any heart problem.
08:21Did he have a seizure attack or something?
08:24Then he said, yes, yes.
08:26He was crying and he said that.
08:28Then I, when I heard CPR, then I was really afraid.
08:31Then why CPR?
08:32So we never had any heart problem or if he had any seizure attack or so before we had experience for four seizure attacks.
08:41But we did minutes.
08:42He comes back.
08:44You know, he gets convulsion and then after two, three minutes, he's like, he comes back.
08:49It takes sometimes to process everything, but it takes only a few minutes.
08:55And then I was continuously calling them, whoever were there, please talk to me, please speak to me, please show me what has been going on.
09:03And one member from Aslan Association, Mr. Abhimanyu, he told us here, we are in the middle of the sea.
09:11And we have thought, why in the middle of the sea?
09:13Then only I came to know.
09:14And then I continuously asking that, why in the middle of the sea?
09:17Why on a yacht?
09:19When did you go?
09:20Then how much time it will take to, you know, to reach a hospital or something?
09:26And then days that we didn't end, 20 minutes, we'll get an ambulance.
09:30And then, but it took hours, it took almost an hour to reach the hospital.
09:35And I don't know what had actually happened, whether he was brought without life or, I don't know.
09:43I don't know.
09:44I really want to know that, what happened, that, are they hiding something?
09:50I have suspicion about everything.
09:54What do you think have been the role of these singers, the musicians who have been arrested, Mahanta and Shekhar Goswami?
10:06I got to know from social media today that Amrit Prabha, Mahanta, she was doing all the videos that have been circulating now.
10:16And why she didn't inform anything to us or to the police, that I don't know.
10:21She should have, I think, she should have informed the family members first or the police first.
10:28But why she had been hiding about all these things and why Shekhar is like our family member, Shekhar Rubin.
10:34You know, he feels everyone is his brother.
10:37He treats them like that.
10:39He is always there by their side whenever they are in trouble or whether in any good or bad times.
10:45But why Shekhar was also so negligent about Rubin, that I don't understand.
10:51I don't know if I have questions for everyone.
10:54Garmaji, did Zubin ever express fear or concern about his safety or well-being?
10:58No, we trusted everyone and Zubin is like, he always trusted everyone around him.
11:11He was such a simple person.
11:13He loved everyone.
11:15He trusted everyone.
11:16He helped everyone.
11:17He supported everyone.
11:18He stood by everyone's side.
11:20So everyone was like his family.
11:24And he expected me also to be there, you know, like sister-in-law, like sister, like the mother.
11:32He wanted me to be their family to all of them.
11:37How do you envision preserving Zubin's musical legacy moving forward?
11:42Still, the time is very hard now.
11:49Still, I have that now Zubin was planning for a movie.
11:53We were supposed to release it on 31st of October.
11:57This is a musical love story.
11:59And Zubin had played a musician, a blind musician.
12:03So this was very close to his heart and he had lots of expectation from it.
12:07So we have, we are working on it and as he expected, as we, you know, grant off, we are trying to release it on 31st of October.
12:18That is our prime, you know, we are working on that now.
12:22And then let's see other things that I have to work on.
12:27I am still, I still can't process everything now.
12:32I still can't believe that there is no more.
12:37Ma'am, I understand, you know, the circumstances of his passing has less, you know, has posed a lot of questions and you are disturbed.
12:48So I'm going to wrap up this conversation with my last question.
12:52Zubin's fans see him as an icon, but for you, he was your partner and a friend.
12:59And what do you most wish his admirers could know about the man behind the voice?
13:07Zubin always had dreamt of, you know, a state, a place where there's no religion, irrespectable of all the religion, all the boundaries, all everything, like all other political or social beliefs.
13:27People should love each other, people should be, we should live in peace and harmony.
13:34So that's his, you know, what to say, that was his dream.
13:39He dreamt of a son like that.
13:41So I request all his fans to, and he extremely loved nature, he worshiped nature.
13:47So this nature conservation and then the message of peace and harmony and love, creativity, positivity, all this should prevail as it is happening now.
14:00Everyone who comes together and prays for him, there's no Hindu, no Muslim, there's no political beliefs.
14:10Everyone who comes together, so this should prevail in the sun, this harmony, this unity should prevail in the sun.
14:17That's my only hope.
14:20Garima, Saikya, Garg, I appreciate your time.
14:24I pray for strength for you as you deal with this huge, huge loss in your life.
14:31Thank you for speaking to India today, ma'am.
14:36Several questions being raised there by Garima Saikya Garg, wife of late singer icon Zubin Garg.
14:47We certainly hope that the investigation reveals the truth.
Be the first to comment