The government of Dubai on Monday confirmed that actor Sridevi died after accidentally drowning in the bathtub of her hotel room following a loss of consciousness. A forensic report indicated that traces of alcohol were found in her blood.
“Dubai Police has transferred the case to Dubai Public Prosecution, which will carry out regular legal procedures followed in such cases,” the government’s Dubai Media Office said on Twitter.
Indian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Navdeep Singh Suri told Gulf News that with the case being transferred to public prosecution, the repatriation is now “open-ended”.
An unidentified prosecutor said that the Public Prosecution’s monitoring of the case was part of the ordinary law enforcement procedure, Gulf News reported. “The papers are revised by the prosecutors of the jurisdiction where the incident happened, the prosecutor said. “An official order to hand over the body of the deceased to the family or relatives is issued shortly after that. In case of any suspicious foul play, prosecutors will carry out further investigations.”
Dubai Police have ruled out a criminal motive in her death, the Khaleej Times reported. Officials have completed the autopsy on her body and a death certificate has been issued.
Social workers are helping process the necessary clearances to repatriate her body to India.
Sridevi, who was in Dubai to attend her nephew’s wedding with husband Boney Kapoor and her younger daughter Khushi, died on February 24. The actor was getting ready for dinner with her husband when she reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest in her room at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel, Khaleej Times reported.
The report said Boney Kapoor had left Dubai for Mumbai, but returned on Saturday evening to surprise Sridevi. The couple spoke for 15 minutes after which Sridevi went to the washroom to get ready for dinner. When she did not come out for a while, Boney Kapoor knocked on the door, and then forced it open to see her “lying motionless in a bathtub full of water”.
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