Reality show star Ishmeet Singh drowns in Maldives
29 Jul 2008, 2331 hrs IST, Jatinder Preet,TNN

Singer Ishmeet Singh in Chandigarh (Photo: Jaswinder singh)
LUDHIANA: Very few can forget his innocent smile and soft, tempered voice. Today, though, Ishmeet Singh, the popular winner of a reality singing competition is no more.

In shocking news that engulfed Ludhiana in a pall of gloom and collective mourning, the budding singer died on Tuesday apparently by drowning in Maldives.

A blooming career cut short, the rattled city reacted with disbelief as the news spread like wildfire. People from all walks of life -- friends, relatives and fans of the Sardar who had captured the imagination of the nation with his melodious voice - started streaming into in to his home at Shastri Nagar, many of them weeping loudly.

Only last year the city had run a campaign lobbying for the singing sensation. The Sikh community and Punjabis across India and the world voted proudly and unabashedly for him, making him the eventual winner.

Crying profusely, Charankamal Singh, his uncle and the chief strategist of the lobby group then, confirmed his death on phone before snapping the connection off.

Too shocked to react Gurpinder Singh, father of Ishmeet, said he doesn't know anything about what happened. Ishmeet's mother, too shaken to shed a tear, sat quietly before a TV set relaying news that shattered her.

Atamjit Singh, one of the relatives told TOI that they got a call from the CEO of Big Events, hosting a programme with Ishmeet in Maldives, that he drowned at the beach.

"Ishmeet had gone just this morning to Maldives," he said.

Reports from Colombo said that Singh, 20, had been frolicking in a shallow pool meant for children on Tuesday and later jumped into the deep-end of the main swimming pool and had immediately run into difficulty, an official of the Dhonveli resort in Maldives said.

"We understand that he did not know how to swim and had been advised by his friends not to get to the deep end," a hotel official said when contacted from Colombo. His body was taken to the capital island Male, about half-an-hour by speed boat.

He had arrived in the Indian Ocean atoll nation early on Tuesday to sing at a musical concert on Friday. He had won the Voice of India singing competition organised by the Star television network and shot to stardom in November last year.

Swimming accidents are rare in the Maldivian archipelago which is known for snorkelling and diving and exotic reef fish. Maldives is reportedly the most expensive tourist destination in South Asia.