'Proof of foul play in Ishmeet's death'

NEW DELHI: Family members of Ishmeet Singh, winner of the "Voice of India" reality show, claim they have gathered evidence from the Maldives where the young singer died suggesting foul play in his death.

Ishmeet, 19, died under mysterious circumstances in a swimming pool at the Chaaya Island Dhonveli beach resort in Maldives July 29. He had gone there to perform in an event.

His father, Gurpinder Singh, and uncle, Charan Kamal Singh, recently paid a three-day visit to the Maldives to try and find more into the "unexplained" head injuries found on Ishmeet.

His family members had earlier said that the post-mortem and forensic laboratory reports stated the reason of his death as drowning, but they are now stressing on the so-far "under noticed" injury marks on Ishmeet's forehead and temple.

According to a report by ADK Hospital, Maldives, where Ishmeet was taken after his death, a linear cut on the forehead was recorded. The post-mortem report in India also mentions a blood clot, "haematoma", under the skin behind the right eye and bloody froth in the nostrils and the mouth. 

"We have inspected every nook and corner of the resort and the pool from every possible angle," Charan Kamal Singh, a pathologist, told IANS over phone from Ludhiana. "The pool has no pointed surface that could lead to such an external injury," the uncle stressed.

"His injuries show inflammatory change. Inflammatory alterations cannot take place after a person's death and nor in a swimming pool. These injuries could have taken place only when he was outside the pool. Ishmeet was living but unconscious when he was slipped into the pool," he claimed.

The two had approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday to request a Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter.

"We discussed the matter for a long time with the prime minister and he assured us that he would do everything to help. He also asked us to file a documented request for a CBI probe," he said.

"We have some pointers as evidence of foul play and a few names that we will put in front of the CBI once we get the permission," revealed Kamal Singh.

Ishmeet's uncle termed his nephew's co-contestants Vyom and Arunima, who were present during the incident and had described the death, as "self-styled eyewitnesses".

"Vyom and Arunima are not the eyewitnesses to Ishmeet's death. No one from the 250 member staff of the resort saw them going to the pool with Ishmeet," he said.

"Their witness status has to be probed. They only came into the picture when Ishmeet was no more," he maintained.

Ishmeet's father Gurpinder Singh had declined to speak and had instead passed on the telephone to his brother.