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Ludhiana: A Gurpurab day (the birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev) on November 24 last year saw a simple soft-spoken boy from a middle-class Ludhiana family became an icon for thousands of Punjabis.
Just 18 years old at the time, Ishmeet Singh received millions of SMS votes - a good number of them coming from Punjab, where Sikhs saw in him a new idol - to top the Amul Star Voice of India contest.
The youngster with a song on his lip left his legions of his admirers with a lump in the throat on Tuesday after news broke of his drowning death at a beach resort in the Maldives.
There was a virtual traffic jam outside Ishmeet's modest home in Ludhiana's Shastri Nagar as a constant stream of friends, relatives and fans flocked to console the devastated family.
His mother Amritpal Kaur, father Gurpinder Singh Sodhi and uncle Charan Kamal Singh (who remained in charge of his career after he made it big) were at a total loss on how to react to the news.
The news of Ishmeet's death was broken by Gurmit Makkar, chief executive of event management firm Big Events.
"I got a call from the event company official that he died. I don't know anything else," said Sodhi.
Ishmeet had given up his college studies to concentrate on a career in music after he won the talent contest last year. He had been in Ludhiana until last week, even performing at a local event. He left for Mumbai on Monday en route to Maldives for a carnival event to be held August 1. In a condolence message, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), which had honoured Ishmeet as a Sikh icon, said he had brought laurels to the Sikh community and Punjab. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal and former chief minister Amarinder Singh also sent condolences.
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