LUDHIANA: 

A voice falls silent: A large number of people, including celebrities, turned up for Ishmeet Singh's funeral in Ludhiana yesterday. The singer was given a state funeral. PIC/AP

Singing sensation Ishmeet Singh's body was consigned to the flames yesterday as tens of thousands of mourners braved a stampede-like situation to bid farewell to the Voice of India whose journey to stardom was cut short by a mysterious death.

Even as Bollywood celebrities like Abhijeet, Mika and Shreya Ghoshal descended to pay their last respects to the 19-year-old singer, commoners also turned up in force, virtually bringing the city to a standstill. As the singer's body made its way to the cremation grounds, security personnel and close relatives had to appeal to the crowds with folded hands to give way.

The singer, who drowned in a swimming pool in the Maldives on Tuesday, had become so popular in just a few months that his funeral was televised live by some news channels.

Foul play

Hours before he was scheduled to get a state funeral, Ishmeet's uncle Charan Kamal Singh said injury marks on the forehead and chest and the budding singer's swollen face had aroused suspicion that he may have been murdered.

"His death is not an accident alone. It could be part of a conspiracy. We want the matter investigated thoroughly. The governments of India and Maldives and the Punjab government should be involved in this investigation," Ishmeet's uncle said.

Maldives' national newspaper Haveeru quoted officials from the Chaaya Dhonveli Beach Resort as saying that Ishmeet had drowned between 5.15 pm and 5.20 pm in the hotel's swimming pool.

"Since he didn't know how to swim we had advised him not to use the big pool. Somehow or other he ended up in the big pool," Marlon Robert, assistant manager of the resort, told the newspaper.