Guwahati, 22 Sept

A second postmortem examination of singer Zubeen Garg's body will be conducted on Tuesday morning at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) following demands from certain sections in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The first autopsy was conducted in Singapore where Garg died by drowning on 19 September . His last rites will be performed on the outskirts of Guwahati on Tuesday with full state honours.

His journey to the cremation ground will begin at 9.30 am after the second autopsy, Sarma said.

''It (second postmortem) 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 here.

''We do not want to create any controversy over Zubeen, so this decision was taken,'' he said.

The CM said that he personally was not interested in ''cutting up his body'' but when a section, even if they are in a minority, demands it, ''my personal wish does not matter. This is democracy''.

After the Singapore doctors had conducted the autopsy, ''I don't think it was necessary for another postmortem as they have more technical expertise, but there should not be any scope for any section to indulge in any kind of politics over Zubeen.''

The postmortem will be conducted by a team of doctors from GMCH and AIIMS, Guwahati.

''It will take around two hours in the morning, and so his final journey will begin from 9.30 am instead of the earlier scheduled time of 7.30 am'', the CM said.