Assam Chief Information Commissioner, whose brother is accused in Zubeen death case, steps down citing ‘moral grounds’

Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, a former Assam Director General of Police (DGP) and the older brother of Shyamkanu Mahanta, one of the men detained in relation to superstar Zubeen Garg’s death, resigned as the state’s Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) on “moral grounds” after the commission received RTI requests regarding Shyamkanu’s actions.

After serving as the Assam DGP and retiring from the police force earlier that year, Bhaskar was appointed to the role of CIC in 2023. He attested to having sent the Raj Bhawan his letter of resignation on Wednesday.
Zubeen traveled to Singapore as a “cultural brand ambassador” for his brother Shyamkanu’s North East India Festival. On September 19, the day before the festival, the singer passed away while out on a yacht. In collaboration with the Indian embassies in Delhi, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, and now Singapore, as well as an annual Rongali festival in Guwahati that Assam tourism has supported on several occasions, the well-connected Shyamkanu has organized numerous such festivals as the director of an events management company.
Since Zubeen’s passing, his ties to the government and power structures have come under investigation. He was taken into custody at Baksa jail last month. The Mahantas are a powerful family; in addition to Bhaskar, another brother is Nani Gopal Mahanta, vice-chancellor of Gauhati University and, prior to this appointment, the education advisor to the Assam government.
“I had verbally told the highest office in the state earlier that I would put in my papers if such a thing comes, and the CMO had responded that would be okay. On the 4th of this month, someone wrote a letter to me recognising that I have conducted my roles and responsibility with fairness and told me that he would be filing an RTI application in connection with assistance received by my brother from the government, and sought my cooperation in this. I thought that I need to uphold the highest dignity of the office and democratic tradition, and not allow any aspersions to be cast on my office. So on moral grounds, I decided to resign,” he said.
Shyamkanu is one of seven people who have been arrested following Zubeen’s death on September 19. The Assam police have booked him in a case under charges of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and causing death by negligence, to which murder charges were added later.