Singer Zubeen Garg was drunk, had declined life jacket: Coroner’s court told in Singapore
Singapore (PTI): Popular Indian singer-songwriter Zubeen Garg was “severely intoxicated” and had drowned off Lazarus Island after declining a life jacket last September, a coroner's court in Singapore was told on Wednesday.
Garg, 52, was with a yacht party on September 19, 2025, when he died of drowning a day before he was slated to perform at the North East India Festival in Singapore.
The singer initially wore a life jacket but removed it and later declined to put on a second one offered to him, the chief investigating officer told the court in the opening of the inquiry, Channel News Asia reported.
At the time, Garg was also severely intoxicated and several witnesses saw him trying to swim back to the yacht when he went limp and began floating with his face in the water, the Channel said quoting the officer.
Garg was promptly rescued back to the yacht and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was administered to him, but he was pronounced dead later that same day.
The singer had a medical history of hypertension and epilepsy, with his last known epileptic episode in 2024, the court was told.
However, it is unclear if he had taken his regular medicine for epilepsy on the day of the incident, with the evidence of eyewitnesses insufficient to establish that he had actually taken it, it was added.
The Singapore police do not suspect any foul play in his death, according to the Channel report.
A total of 35 witnesses are slated for the inquiry, including witnesses on the yacht, the boat captain, police officers and paramedics.
The chief investigating officer in the case told the court that Garg and 20-odd people on the yacht, including his friends and colleagues, had some snacks, drinks and alcohol on the boat.
Several witnesses said they saw Garg drinking alcohol, with one witness saying he had consumed a few cups of liquor, gin and whisky, along with a few sips of Guinness Stout, the Channel said.
The investigating officer then described a step-by-step account of what happened that day and said, during the first swim, Garg removed his life jacket and later went back on the yacht and was heard saying that he was tired.
“When he decided to resume swimming, Garg was offered a second, smaller life jacket, but he declined to wear it. He entered the water without a life jacket and started swimming in the direction of Lazarus Island alone,” said the chief investigating officer.
The officer went on to describe the sequence of events in detail.
An autopsy performed on Garg determined the cause of death to be drowning. Some injuries were found on his body but they were found to have been sustained during CPR and rescue efforts, the Channel report said.
Medications for his hypertension and epilepsy were found in his blood, with no other drugs detected.
A toxicology analysis found that Garg had a blood alcohol concentration of 333 milligrams per 100ml of blood, which suggests severe intoxication resulting in impaired coordination and reflexes, the court was told.
For comparison, the legal limit in Singapore is 80 milligrams per 100ml of blood. The police also seized a 750ml bottle of Scotch whisky with 43 per cent alcohol from Garg's hotel room that was 25 per cent full.
One of the witnesses, whom the Channel did not name, spoke about Garg's erratic sleeping habits.
“The evidence of several witnesses, provided via their statements to the court, stated that Mr Garg had no suicidal tendencies and that he was not pushed into the water but had jumped in himself for a swim,” the Channel report said, quoting the court hearing.
The forensic pathologist, who conducted Garg's autopsy, testified that it could not be determined whether or not he had suffered a seizure, saying there were no signs such as a bitten tongue.
The captain of the yacht, which is called the Crazy Monkey, gave evidence that he saw two of Garg's friends holding onto his arms as he boarded as he was unable to walk properly.
The captain, who listened to proceedings via a Mandarin interpreter, also noticed, in his witness statement, that some of the passengers were already drinking alcohol before even boarding the yacht.
He also claimed that he had given two safety briefings, and that when he saw Garg entering waters without a life jacket the second time, he said, “I told his friend that he is drunk, and if he wants to get into the water, he needs to wear a life jacket.”
He also corroborated that most of the passengers, including Garg, were drinking shots.
His witness statements also included details such as when he saw Garg face down (in the waters), he quickly shouted at his friends before swimming to the singer himself.
When the captain turned Garg's head away from the water, he saw a lot of foam coming out from his mouth and nose with a “terrible” smell, the Channel said, quoting the captain.
Before the inquiry opened on Wednesday, Garg's uncle Manoj Kumar Borthakur read a statement he had prepared to the court, in which he raised several concerns the family had over the singer's death.
To several of his uncle's questions related to the sequence of events as it unfolded that day, State Coroner Adam Nakhoda said some of the facts sought were not relevant to the circumstances that led to the death, according to the Channel report.
In India, a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the case, has charged festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer’s secretary Siddhartha Sharma and his two band members Shekharjyoti Goswami and Amritprava Mahanta with murder, and his cousin Sandipan Garg with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The singer's two personal security officers (PSOs), Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya, have been charged with criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust by misappropriating funds or property entrusted to them.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
