Celebrated Assamese singer and cultural icon Zubeen Garg has died at the age of 52 following a tragic scuba diving accident in Singapore. His mortal remains arrived in Guwahati on Sunday morning and were kept at the Sarusajai Sports Complex, where thousands of fans gathered to pay their last respects. Now, ahead of his cremation, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed another post-mortem of the singer will be carried out. His close associate also confirmed his voice is being preserved digitally.
Second post-mortem of Zubeen Garg to happen
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said that another post-mortem of legendary singer Zubeen Garg`s body would be carried out in Guwahati on Tuesday. The autopsy will be conducted at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital on Tuesday morning in the presence of AIIMS doctors.
“It (second post-mortem) is not a demand from the public but from certain fringe elements, and we have decided to conduct it with his wife`s consent,” the Chief Minister said at a press conference. “It will take around two hours in the morning, and so his final journey will begin at 9.30 am instead of the earlier scheduled time of 7.30 am,” the CM added.
As a #ZubeenFan, personally I didn’t endorse the idea of a second post mortem on his body.
But as Chief Minister, people’s sentiment hold more weight than my opinion. Hence we have consented to cut open his body and do a second post mortem. pic.twitter.com/lHxPkh4rX1
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) September 22, 2025
For his final journey, all schools, colleges, and universities across the state will remain closed on Tuesday, while government offices in Kamrup (Metro) district will also remain shut. The state has also declared dry days on Monday and Tuesday.
Zubeen Garg’s voice digitally preserved
People close to the singer have begun work to digitally preserve his voice to prevent unauthorised use or tampering in the future. Singer-composer Manas Robin, a long-time associate of Garg, said such digital preservation will ensure that his voice is not distorted or misused through AI-enabled or other technologies. “With technology making massive strides, especially with AI-generated software, it is very much possible that Zubeen`s voice samples taken from the internet could be used by other singers/performers as their own in the future,” Robin told PTI.
“Digital preservation of Zubeen`s work is already underway through his YouTube channel and other internet platforms. We also want to put a ‘digital signature’ to his voice so that no one can pass it off as their own in today`s world of AI-generated audios and videos. We will work on preserving Zubeen`s voice digitally and creating such a ‘digital signature’ that the moment his vocals are played, their origin can be detected,” he said.
His last rites will be performed with state honours on the outskirts of the city on Tuesday.
