On Thursday, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, the Assam Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) resigned his position after his brother, Shyamkanu Mahanta, was arrested over the death of a popular musician, filmmaker, and actor called Zubeen Garg in Singapore this September.
Mahanta later cited in a Facebook post that his decision was the result of special circumstance because his brother allegedly was involved in the case. “My inner being informed me that in case there is any query submitted to the commission with respect to my brother, I ought to resign and confuse no-one about it.”
Mahanta wrote to the office of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma about his decision and asked his colleagues to notify him at once in case any questions were made concerning his brother to the State Information Commission under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. He unveiled a recent query that was made in the RTI inquiring about the government financial grants awarded to Shyamkanu Mahanta to organize events. Because the question was about Shyamkanu, I thought that the right thing to do was to resign right away so that no one would perceive any form of bias.
He also stated that although the commission would have given an appropriate response, he had to resign to ensure that transparency and the trust people had in the institution was upheld.
One of the seven people who were arrested in the death of Garg on September 19 in Singapore was Shyamkanu Mahanta. He was the main organizer of North East India Festival, where the late artist was present. Garg died accidentally as a result of swimming during a yacht party.
The current CIC, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, was the 1988-batch, IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadres serving as the Director General of Police (DGP) of Assam between 2019 and 2023 and appointed to the position of CIC in March 2023. His mandate was initially scheduled to end in March 2026.