Bollywood superstar Sridevi died from drowning in her hotel room bathtub, police in Dubai said yesterday following a postmortem.
Media reports had earlier said the 54-year-old, who had been in Dubai for a family wedding, had died of cardiac arrest on Saturday.
“Following the completion of postmortem analysis, Dubai Police today stated that the death of Indian actress Sridevi occurred due to drowning in her hotel apartment’s bathtub following loss of consciousness,” Dubai Police said on their Twitter account.
“Dubai Police has transferred the case to Dubai Public Prosecution, which will carry out regular legal procedures followed in such cases,” it added, without elaborating.
The revelation has led to a delay in repatriating her body back to India.
The forensic report also said there were traces of alcohol in her blood - with some media reports claiming it was found to have been at “elevated levels”.
Sharing the image of the forensic report, Gulf News stated that Sridevi lost balance and fell into the bathtub and drowned.
According to khaleejtimes.com, her body will soon be moved to the Al Muhaisana embalming unit and will be repatriated to Mumbai - where India’s top stars and her legions of fans are waiting to have a glimpse of the mortal remains of their star.
“The investigation is still going on to determine the circumstances surrounding the accident as the forensic report only says that she drowned,” an official told Gulf News.
The police are trying to piece together the sequence of events and establish what exactly happened.
A chief prosecutor told Gulf News: “In such accidental death incidents, the results of the postmortem and forensic examination reports are referred to the Public Prosecution as part of ordinary law enforcement procedures. 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.”
Experts feel this could further delay the return of the body and that could reschedule her last rites.
Earlier reports said that the actress was getting ready for a dinner date with her husband Boney Kapoor.
Kapoor flew to Dubai from Mumbai and went to her room at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel at around 5.30pm on Saturday to “surprise” her with the dinner, a source close to the family told the Khaleej Times.
He woke her up and the couple chatted for about 15 minutes before he invited her for dinner.
She then went to the washroom.
After 15 minutes had passed and Sridevi did not come out, Kapoor knocked on the door to check on her.
When he got no response, he forced open the door to find the legendary actress lying motionless in the bathtub full of water, the source said.
“He tried to revive her and when he could not, he called a friend. After that, he informed the police at 9pm,” he added.
The police and paramedics rushed to the scene, but she was pronounced dead.
Her body was taken to the General Department of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy.
Sridevi, Kapoor, and their younger daughter Khushi were in Ras Al Khaimah last week to celebrate the wedding of her actor-nephew Mohit Marwah.
Kapoor had returned to Mumbai after the wedding, but decided to return to Dubai to “surprise” his wife.
Hundreds of heartbroken fans gathered outside her Mumbai home hoping to catch a final glimpse of the star before her cremation, now likely to take place today at the earliest.
Sridevi, born Shree Amma Yanger Ayappan in Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, appeared in around 300 films and was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, for services to the movie industry.