Assam's music icon Zubeen Garg was "severely intoxicated" and refused a life jacket when he drowned while swimming in waters near Singapore's Lazarus Island in September last year, Singapore media reported, citing testimonies of witnesses, including police, before a court on Wednesday.
According to a report by Singapore newspaper The Straits Times, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) David Lim testified before a court that Zubeen Garg had consumed alcohol and refused a life vest before jumping off a yacht near the Lazarus Island.
As his friends tried to convince him to swim back to the yacht, Garg suddenly became motionless and began floating face down, the ASP, who works with the Police Coast Guard, told the court.
The officer said Garg was pulled back to the yacht, where efforts were made to resuscitate him, but Garg was later pronounced dead in the hospital on Sept 19, 2025. The cause of his death was drowning.
The 52-year-old singer and songwriter was on a visit to Singapore to perform at the 4th North East India Festival (NEIF).
ASP Lim is among the 35 witnesses in the case to take the stand at a coroner's inquiry into Garg's death. Apart from Lim, another six witnesses have testified before the court on Wednesday.
A Coroner’s Inquiry (CI) is a fact-finding process, led by the Coroner, to establish the cause and circumstances of the death.
Testifying before the court, Lim said that Garg did not have any suicidal tendencies and was not subjected to duress or coercion before his death.
According to testimonies of the yacht's captian and his assistant, Garg was seen drinking with his friends before boarding the vessel.
The singer was so unsteady that his friends had to hold on to his arms as he boarded the vessel. Garg continued to walk unsteadily on the vessel and often needed help to move around.
The captain's assistant testified that no one had forced Garg to drink alcohol or enter the water, adding that the singer and his entourage were briefed while on the yacht that they ought to don life jackets before swimming, reported The Straits Times.
According to an autopsy report cited by the newspaper, Garg had 333mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system, which would have impacted his coordination.
According to the ASP's testimony, when the yacht arrived near Lazarus Island at around 2.30 pm, Garg put on a life jacket and jumped in for a swim. However, the singer removed his life jacket while in the water, as he found it was too big for him.
The investigator added that Garg later returned to the yacht and had to be helped up as he was breathing heavily.
"The deceased then decided to resume swimming, and a smaller life jacket was placed over his shoulders, but he refused to wear it," ASP Lim was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.
The officer said that Garg had started to swim towards Lazarus Island without a life jacket, while the others on the yacht tried to convince him to swim back.
"Suddenly, the deceased became motionless and was floating face down," testified ASP Lim, adding that witnesses also saw that he was foaming from the mouth.
Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Assam government to probe the death has filed a 12,000-page charge sheet charging four people, including NEIF organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta and Garg’s manager Siddharth Sharma, under charges of murder and criminal conspiracy.
Apart from Mahanta and Sharma, the SIT has arrested five people in connection with the case: Zubeen Garg's cousin Sandipan Garg, personal security officers Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya, bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami and singer Amritprabha Mahanta.