Mumbai, Apr 14 (Mid-day): Music composer Uttam Singh’s 40-year-old son, Amarjeet Singh, died due to asphyxiation on Friday night. The composer’s son was following a weight loss diet for nearly four months in a bid to lose weight. Speaking to hitlist, Uttam Singh, who is credited with composing music for hits such as 'Dil Toh Pagal Hai', 'Gadar Ek Prem Katha', 'Baghban' and 'Pinjar', said, “My son had been dieting for nearly four months as he wished to shed some kilos. On Friday evening, he decided to give in to temptation and have a burger. After eating it, he had a glass of home-made lassi. His face looked ashen and when asked about it, he said that he was okay. Soon after, he went to the bathroom.”

Singh and his wife then waited for Amarjeet to come out but he didn’t do so. “After some time, we had no option but to push open the door. When we saw him foaming at the mouth, we immediately called for an ambulance. The doctor told us that the food, that was lodged in his windpipe, had choked him. The ambulance took about 45 minutes to arrive at our residence and by the time we rushed him to Ambani hospital, there wasn’t much the doctors could do to save him,” says Singh.

The father adds that his son was a good piano player. “Amarjeet worked with me for a while. Of late, he was working with an orchestra. He weighed 98 kgs and he was starving himself in order to lose weight. We kept advising him not to do so but he wouldn’t listen to us. To add to it, he was suffering from schizophrenia for quite some time now,” says the emotional father.