According to Indian High Commissioner to Singapore Shilpak Ambule, Zubeen Garg had gone with 17 others on a yacht trip and died while ‘swimming in the sea without a life jacket’.
IMAGE: All Assam Students Union (AASU) leaders pay tribute to singer Zubeen Garg, who passed away in a scuba diving accident in Singapore, in Guwahati on Friday, September 19, 2025. Photograph: ANI Photo
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the Singapore authorities confirmed that a post-mortem examination of singer Zubeen Garg’s body was conducted on Saturday and his mortal remains was handed over to his team.
Garg died in Singapore on Friday, while ‘swimming in the sea without a life jacket’.
IMAGE: Fans pay tribute to Zubeen. Photograph: ANI Photo
According to Indian High Commissioner to Singapore Shilpak Ambule, Garg had gone with 17 others on a yacht trip and died while ‘swimming in the sea without a life jacket’, Sarma said on Friday night.
The crew members of the yacht and guards had insisted that Garg should wear it, the CM said.
‘Garg had initially worn the life jacket, but after a few seconds, he took it off, claiming that it was oversized and he was finding it difficult to swim,’ Sarma said.
‘The high commissioner has sent me a list of people accompanying Zubeen, and it includes 11 people, including one Abhimanyu Talukdar, who had booked the yacht, from the Assamese community living in Singapore, four members of the singer’s team, and two crew members,’ Sarma said after visiting the singer’s residence in Kahilipara area in Guwahati on Friday night.
IMAGE: Fans break down while paying tribute to Zubeen Garg. Photograph: ANI Photo
The singer was ‘found floating in the sea, and the crew of the yacht tried to revive him, and he was again given CPR at the port’ before being rushed to the Singapore General Hospital, where doctors declared him dead, the chief minister said.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during cardiac or respiratory arrest.
‘The Singapore authorities are questioning the people who had accompanied the singer,’ Sarma said.
‘The Indian high commissioner has also informed that the autopsy will be conducted on Saturday, and we are hoping that Zubeen can return to his land by Saturday evening,’ the CM said.
‘When all the formalities are completed, his mortal remains will be first brought to Delhi and then flown to Guwahati by Saturday,’ he said.
IMAGE: Fans gather to pay tribute to Zubeen Garg. Photograph: ANI Photo
Since all the people accompanying Garg are Indian citizens, Sarma said, ‘we will approach the Union home ministry on the procedure to be followed to ensure that our concerned authorities question them as the people of the state have the right to know what exactly happened to their icon in his last few minutes’.
The chief minister said the singer’s mortal remains will be kept in the Sarusajai Stadium for the people to pay their last respects, and ‘all other arrangements will be made after the arrival of the body’.
The singer’s family said ‘since Garg was popular among the people of Assam, they will decide how his last rites will be conducted’, Sarma said.
‘The family will fully cooperate with the people and the government in this regard,’ Sarma said.
IMAGE: Fans gather outside Zubeen Garg’s home in Guwahati. Photograph: ANI Photo
Asked whether his body will be brought to his residence, the CM said, ‘We will discuss it again with his family as his father is ailing and wants to see him for the last time.’
On the demand of the people of Jorhat, Garg’s hometown, the CM said, ‘cremation and memorial are two different issues and we will take a final decision only after Zubeen arrives in Assam’.
In Pictures: Zubeen Garg Lives On
IMAGE: Zubeen Garg during one of his performances. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Selfies with Zubeen at the Pratidin Time Achievers’ Award 2021 ceremony at the Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati, December 25, 2021. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla present the Music Award to Zubeen during the Pratidin Time Achievers’ Award 2021 ceremony. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Zubeen addresses a a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, organised by the All Assam Students Union, in Guwahati January 9, 2020. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: AASU General Secretary Lurin Jyoti Gogoi, AASU President Dipankar Kumar Nath, Zubeen and AASU Chief Advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya at a protest to scrap the Citizenship (Amendment) Act at the AEI playground, Chandmari, Guwahati, December 15, 2019. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Zubeen along with AASU President Dipanka Kumar Nath, Chief Advisor Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya, General Secretary Lorin Jyoti Gogoi and others take part in a mass hunger strike during a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Guwahati, December 14, 2019. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Zubeen addressing the crowd during the mass hunger strike. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Zubeen and his wife Garima Saikia Garg take part in a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Guwahati, December 6, 2019. Photograph: ANI Photo
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff