On Wednesday the West Bengal government paid it’s tribute to the renowned Bollywood singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, popularly known as KK, with a gun salute to his mortal or bodily remains.
Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, supervised the proceedings and paid floral tributes to the late singer, whose body was kept at Rabindra Sadan for some time. She was also seen consoling KK’s wife and other family members who were present at the venue.
The 53-year-old singer’s body was brought to Rabindra Sadan after a post-mortem examination had been conducted at the state-run SSKM Hospital earlier that day.
After the ceremony his remains were taken to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport and handed over to his family, who flew to Mumbai with the body.
KK was declared “brought dead” by doctors of the hospital where he was taken after he “fell unconscious” upon his return to a hotel from a concert on Tuesday night, police said in a statement. Doctors at the hospital said they suspected “cardiac arrest” to be the cause behind the death.
A case has been lodged in New Market Police Station – under whose jurisdiction falls the five-star hotel where KK was staying, and from where he was taken to a hospital. The case has been filed for unnatural death.
The versatile singer who recorded songs in regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, and Bengali, died aged 53. This age falls below the life expectancy age of India which currently stands at 69 years.
The ambulance carrying KK’s body in a wooden coffin was brought to Rabindra Sadan premises at 2.30 pm. Senior ministers stood beside KK’s wife and children during the gun salute that took place at 2.43 pm.
The singer’s body was taken straight to the airport through a green corridor. His family will leave for Mumbai around 5 pm.
Mamta Banerjee, who took a flight to the city from Andal airport in Paschim Bardhaman, reached Rabindra Sadan around 1.30 pm to supervise the arrangements while the post-mortem was being conducted at SSKM Hospital, barely 200 metres away.
Staff members of Nazrul Manch where the concert was held said people were more than the capacity wherein the crowd was jumping from the boundary and some broke the gates.
The singer lent his evocative voice to hundreds of songs but some of the hits that will be remembered include ‘ Ajab si’ from Om Shanti Om, ‘ Tadap tadap’ from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and ‘ Khuda jaane’ from Bachna Ae Haseeno.
Tributes have poured in from across the country at the sudden death of the versatile singer, whose songs celebrated love and friendship. Along with the Chief Minister and West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, singer-turned-politician Babul Supriyo, singer Anupam Roy and music director Jeet Ganguly offered rich tributes to KK. Soon after the news of his death broke on Tuesday evening, several people, including Mr. Supriyo and Mr. Ganguly, rushed to the hospital.
The death of this great personality is a indeed a great blow to the music industry and the entire country at large. The great singer will forever be remembered for his great contribution to the music industry and will be memorialized in the hearts of his fans. He might have died in this earthly plane but he shall forever be immortal in the minds and hearts his fans.
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