The noted guitarist Sonam Sherpa (48), was found dead in a hotel room in Kurseong at around 1 p.m, today. The deceased was a permanent resident of Kalimpong but for the past several decades he had been staying in Delhi, running a music-institute ‘Parikrama’. And recently a few days ago, he had visited Kurseong as a music director of the Hindi/Nepali film Broken Wings whose shooting has been going on in Kurseong in the Darjeeling hills for the past one month.
Notably, it was learnt that earlier too, at the same hotel, a Thai student and a taxi driver had been found dead, reportedly in unnatural circumstances on 8 and 17 March 2017 respectively. Now, after a gap of around three years, once again, another death has been reported at the same hotel.
However, talking to reporters, the director and writer of the film, Mr Shenpenn, said that this was just a coincidence. There is no link with the hotel regarding Sonam Sherpa’s death as it has occured naturally due to illness, he said. He added that after completing his music part on 12 February, he was supposed to leave Kurseong today afternoon but at around 1:15 p.m. he received a call from the hotel saying that an unconscious Sonam has been found lying in his hotel room.
Later, Sonam was rushed to the Kurseong hospital, where he was declared brought dead. According to the director of the film, earlier too, in Delhi, Sonam Sherpa had suffered a heart attack. Mr Shenpenn said that he had met Sonam in the morning and he was doing well. ASP Kurseong, Mr Manoranjan Ghosh, said that the police have started investigations in the matter. Tomorrow, they will send the body to the NBMCH from Kurseong hospital for post mortem.