Legendary actress Sridevi will be cremated at 3.30 pm on Wednesday, 28 February, at Mumbai’s Vile Parle Seva Samaj Crematorium and Hindu Cemetery.
Her mortal remains have been kept at Lokhandwala’s Celebration Sports Club, where fans, family members and celebrities will be able to pay their last respects to the iconic cinestar from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm
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The complex where the body has been kept has a capacity of 350-400 people. Heavy security has been thrown around the complex where mammoth turnout is expected given the stature of India’s first female superstar.
“We have provided additional security at the residence in order to avoid law and order situation,” Mumbai police spokesperson, Deepak Devraj told PTI on Tuesday night.
Around 100 policemen were deployed near Sridevi’s Lokhandwala building on Tuesday night and around 250 cops will be deployed at the house where her body will be kept for paying final tribute to the departed soul, said a police official.
“The same number of policemen will be part of the funeral procession,” he said.
The procession will start at 2 pm from Lokhandwala for the crematorium located in Vile Parle. Sridevi’s husband Boney Kapoor, their daughters Khushi and Janhvi, and the entire Kapoor and Ayyappan (Sridevi’s side) families will be present at the funeral.
Sridevi’s mortal remains reached the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai at around 9.30 pm on Tuesday night. The body was received by Anil Kapoor, Sridevi’s brother-in-law.
Anil was waiting at the airport along with other family members and friends. Thereafter, the mortal remains were taken to her Lokhandwala residence.
Earlier in the day, all the speculations about Sridevi’s death were put to rest as Dubai prosecutor’s office said it was closing the case following completion of investigations.
The prosecutor’s office said forensic report had stated that she had died from “accidental drowning” in her bathtub, after losing consciousness. The case had been closed, the prosecutor’s office said.
Her body was handed over to her bereaved family on Tuesday as no foul play was apparently suspected by the investigators.
A tweet from the official feed of the Government of Dubai Media Office read: “The decision to release the body came after all the investigations and procedural matters followed in such incidents were completed, in order to determine all its circumstances and ensure that justice was done within the framework of the law.”
After completion of embalming, Sridevi’s body was taken to Dubai airport from where it was brought to Mumbai in a private aircraft, 72 hours after her death.
For three days, the Dubai police authorities completed various legal and medical formalities before the body was finally handed over to the Kapoor family on Tuesday afternoon.
On Saturday evening, Sridevi, who was in Dubai to attend the marriage function of actor Mohit Marwah, drowned in the bathtub of room number 2201 at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel here.
The police said that there was no clear criminal motive with regard to her death, neither did she suffer a cardiac arrest like how it was reported earlier.
A day after Sridevi died, celebrities like Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, visited the late actress’ brother-in-law and actor-producer Anil Kapoor’s residence in Mumbai to offer condolences to the grieving family.
Sridevi, who made a comeback to Bollywood in 2012 with “English Vinglish” after a break of 15 years, was last seen on the big screen in “Mom” in 2017.
(With inputs from agencies.)
