Ishmeet couldn't swim, say friends

Singer who died in Maldives pool is remembered warmly by co-contestants as a man who was polite but liked to prove himself.

Ishmeet Singh, the Voice of India winner who drowned in a Maldives pool couldn't swim, say his friends.

Harshit Saxena, who was a finalist on VOI, lived with Ishmeet during the Voice of India shoot. "We used to live together during the shooting of both VOI and Superstar. We never saw him swim. There was a large pool quite close to our flat and he would come there and sit by it but he never went in. He didn't know how to swim," said Harshit who was also meant to be in the Maldives with Ishmeet and singers Sumitra Iyer and Vyom from Chhote Ustaad. He says, he cancelled his tickets "because of personal reasons" Harshit adds sadly, "We were supposed to do a live performance in August."

"Ishmeet was a man who had the nature of proving himself" says Harshit, "he liked to do experiments and it might have been that people got excited in the resort with the pool there. Ishmeet was only 19 and might have gone into the pool just for fun." Harshit has many questions about the incident: "If there were people with him in the pool, why did they not try and rescue him?"

"I'll only get the answers when they return," he said, "I spoke to Ishmeet 15 days ago and didn't imagine that it would be the last time we would speak. I can understand the condition of his family: He was an only son and I don't know how they will cope with this tragedy" worries Harshit.

Ishmeet's co-contestant on Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar, Abhijeet Sawant said he remembered Ishmeet's maturity despite his young years. "When I and Debojit were discussing something he would chat with us really nicely. He was very focussed on his singing, and said he wanted to be a chartered accountant," recalls Abhijeet. Abhijeet said he was surprised that the accident would happen in a pool. "Swimming pools are never so deep that people cannot be rescued from them," he said, "and if you're not in the water in Maldives, there's no point in going there". Abhijeet didn't think of Ishmeet as being the kind of person who would take risks, saying that "he was never adventurous." "I wish I had been there with him," he added, "I know how to swim and I would have rescued him."

Abhaas Joshi, who participated in Voice of India says he was also supposed to be in the Maldives but couldn't make it because of another shoot. "I was told by the event organiser that Ishmeet had been in an accident so I was tense about him," says Abhaas, "but I didn't think that such bad news would follow," he adds. "When he called again he told us that Ishmeet jumped into the pool from a height and hurt himself. When the doctors were called in they said he was dead."

"We were together for eight months and he was a very simple guy, never doing anything in a hurry," reminisceses Abhaas, who heard about the death while he was at work. "I was shooting with Gajji (Gajendra Siingh, maker of VOI) and he broke down in front of us. He could not continue shooting after that and left the sets,” says Abhaas.

Ishmeet was in his second year at college and landed in Maldives on Tuesday morning. His funeral will take place in Ludhiana on Wednesday.