‘Keep the tea ready’: Indian in Waikato dies trimming trees in lawn

“Keep the tea ready, I’ll be back after cleaning the lawn at 3.30,” 33-year-old Paradeep Singh told his wife, Kamal, after lunch before heading to the property lawn to clean it on his day off in Cambridge, Waikato.

But he never returned.

Kamal, who had recently married Paradeep, called him multiple times before heading out to check what had happened.

“Paradeep was trimming the branches of a tree at the property lawn using equipment, while standing on the ground, along with some friends (doing their own individual jobs ), when the incident happened," shared Kamal and Paradeep’s friend, who did not wish to be named.

As he was trimming the branches, the friends heard Paradeep scream, according to the friend.

"Police suspect that either the branch bounced back up and hit his head or the chainsaw (equipment) pushed him back and that hit him in the head,” shared the friend.

“He passed away within ten minutes.”

The coroner’s report is awaited in the matter.

“The friends around him quickly ran towards him and called the ambulance and police,” she shared.

According to the friend, Paradeep did not have any external injuries but had a swollen eye and was bleeding “a lot” from his ears and mouth.

Paradeep worked as an operations manager for a horticulture business and moved to New Zealand in 2023 from Ganganagar, Rajasthan.

His wife, Kamal, arrived in New Zealand in December 2025 and registered their marriage in the country after obtaining a partnership-based visa.

Photo: Supplied

“She has no idea of New Zealand and all of us (family and friends) are working this through for her. She has no income or source of funds to manage this heartbreaking situation,” the friend shared.

Explaining Kamal’s condition, the friend shared that “she has not eaten anything, she is really struggling to hold herself together at the moment.”

The friend shared that Paradeep was the sole earner for the family back in Rajasthan. His mother is paralysed and also suffers from a heart condition, while his father is elderly. The family in India has not yet been informed about the incident.

Friends and family of Paradeep are trying to raise funds to help Kamal reunite with her family and for repatriation so that Paradeep’s family can see him one last time and perform his final rites.

You can contribute to the family here: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/help-kamal-take-deep-home-to-india