Actor Sridevi’s funeral has been delayed as her body has not been sent back to India yet. Unidentified Indian officials said they were waiting for certificates from the Dubai authorities before her body could be repatriated, Gulf News reported. Officials “hope” this will happen by Tuesday, though the repatriation is now “open-ended”, according to the report.
The report also added that Dubai Police questioned and recorded the statement of the actor’s husband Boney Kapoor. On Monday, the official forensic report released said that Sridevi died due to accidental drowning. She reportedly lost consciousness before that. This came after speculation that she had suffered a cardiac arrest. There were traces of alcohol found in her blood.
In cases of accidental deaths, the post-mortem and forensic reports “are referred to the Public Prosecution as part of ordinary law enforcement procedures,” a chief prosecutor told Gulf News. “The papers are revised by the prosecutors of the jurisdiction where the incident happened. An official order to hand over the body of the deceased to the family or relatives is issued shortly after that.”
Earlier on Monday, reports said the Dubai Police have ruled out a criminal motive in her death reported. Officials have completed the autopsy on her body and a death certificate has been issued.
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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