Assam’s cultural icon and celebrated singer and music director Zubeen Garg entered the waters off Singapore’s Lazarus Island without a life jacket and drowned while being drunk over four times the legal limit, with toxicology detecting hypertension and epilepsy medication but no other drugs, Channel News Asia reported on January 14, quoting proceedings at a coroner’s court.
Opening a coroner’s inquiry, Singapore’s chief investigating officer said that Zubeen, 52, boarded a yacht at Marina at Keppel Bay on September 19, 2025, with about 20 friends and colleagues and was seen drinking gin, whisky and stout. The yacht anchored between Lazarus and St. John’s islands. Garg swam wearing a life jacket that was too large, returned to the boat saying that he was tired, then re-entered the water and declined a smaller jacket offered to him, swimming alone toward Lazarus Island.
Witnesses shouted for him to return. He turned back, became motionless and floated face down. Rescued and given CPR, Zubeen had no pulse when the Police Coast Guard arrived within nine minutes. He was pronounced dead at Singapore General Hospital at 5.15 p.m.
The autopsy confirmed drowning. Toxicology showed medication for hypertension and epilepsy — but no other drugs — and a blood alcohol concentration of 333mg/100ml, which was more than four times Singapore’s legal limit of 80. The police said, they did not suspect foul play. The inquiry under the Coroners Act is expected to record a neutral finding such as “misadventure”. The Singapore police in December 2025 said that they did not “suspect foul play in the death”.
Singapore coroner Adam Nakhoda said, some lines of questioning were not relevant to the circumstances of death, and allowed Zubeen Garg’s uncle, Manoj Kumar Borthakur, to question witnesses directly. About 35 witnesses are scheduled to testify, including yacht passengers, the captain, police officers and paramedics.
Authorities in Assam in India are pursuing alleged murder charges against seven people. A police SIT has chargesheeted the seven persons alleging murder and culpable homicide not amounting to murder due to financial motives. Zubeen died a day prior to his concert at the North East India Festival in Singapore.
Those arrested are festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta; Zubeen’s manager, Siddharth Sharma; cousin Sandipan Garg; drummer Shekhar Jyoti Goswami; singer Amritprabha Mahanta; and two personal security officers.