Family wants a probe into death

sify.com IANS, 11 August , 2008

Voice of India singing contest winner Ishmeet Singh's family on Sunday said it was not satisfied with the forensic report that said the 19-year-old budding singer died of drowning, and sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into his death.

The singer mysteriously drowned in the swimming pool of a beach resort in the Maldives July 29 after he arrived there for an event. He had won the Voice of India contest November last year.

Ishmeet's father Gurpinder Singh and uncle Charan Kamal Singh, who arrived in Amritsar on Sunday to pay obeisance at the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple), said only a thorough probe would establish whether or not there was any foul play in his death.

"Punjab state Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has assured us that a probe would be conducted into Ishmeet's death," the singer's uncle said.

A forensic report from a government laboratory in Patiala town, Punjab last week said Ishmeet died due to drowning. The preliminary post-mortem examination report of the singer attributed his death to drowning.

But the family has alleged that Ishmeet's death could be a conspiracy as his head and chest bore injury marks.