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There could be a further delay in the return of Sridevi's mortal remains with the Dubai police informing the Indian embassy that another "clearance" was awaited before it could release the body.
IMAGE: Perhaps Sridevi's last photograph on Instagram. With younger daughter Khushi at Mohit Marwah's wedding.
As crowds milled around her Mumbai home and stars visited the family to pay their condolences, the Dubai newspaper Khaleej Times reported that Sridevi was getting ready to have dinner with husband Boney Kapoor when she suffered a cardiac arrest.
Boney and Sridevi were in Dubai to attend nephew Mohit Marwah's wedding.
IMAGE: Sridevi, Boney and Khushi Kapoor with the couple, Mohit Marwah and Antara Motiwala. Photograph: Kind courtesy Sridevi/Instagram
While most of the Kapoor family -- including Boney and younger daughter Khushi returned to Mumbai -- Sridevi decided to stay back in Dubai.
On Saturday, February 24, Boney flew to Dubai to surprise his wife, the Khaleej Times reported.
He arrived at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel around 5.30 pm (Dubai time), woke Sridevi up.
The couple chatted for about 15 minutes, the newspaper report said.
Sridevi then went to the bathroom to get ready for dinner.
When she didn't come out for 15 minutes, Boney knocked on the door.
He did not get any response and forced open the door, to find Sridevi lying motionless in the bathtub full of water.
'He tried to revive her and when he could not, he called a friend of his. After that, he informed the police at 9 pm,' the Khaleej Times quoted a source as saying.
IMAGE: Outside the apartment complex in Andheri, north west Mumbai, where Sridevi, Boney Kapoor and their daughters lived. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar
Police and paramedics rushed to the room, but it was too late. Sridevi was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sridevi's body was then taken for an autopsy.
IMAGE: The forensic report. Photograph: ANI
Later, the Gulf News newspaper reported that Sridevi died of accidental drowning.
The newspaper quoted the UAE government's forensic report on its official Twitter handle.
A copy of the forensic report, attached with the post, has a stamp of the 'Ministry of Health UAE' and the director of preventive medicine, Dubai, Dr Sami Wadie.
The newspaper claimed that the actress was under the influence of alcohol. She fell into the bathtub and drowned, it added.
Meanwhile, Indian officials and family members are still waiting the necessary certificates from the Dubai authorities to start the process of repatriating Sridevi's mortal remains, two officials confirmed.
"We need forensic certificate, death certificate and embalming certificate before the process of embalming the body begins. Unless these processes are completed, we will not be in a position to give a firm time for the repatriation of the body," an official from the Indian consulate in Dubai told PTI.
There could be a further delay in the return of Sridevi's mortal remains with the Dubai police informing the Indian embassy that another "clearance" was awaited before it could release the body of the actor, who according to the government there, died of accidental drowning in her hotel bath tub after losing consciousness.
Maintaining that the embassy and consulate are working closely with the authorities here to expedite the return of Sridevi's body, India's Ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Suri told PTI that they have been told that the Dubai police can release it only after receiving another "clearance".
However, Suri did not say what type of "clearance" was required. "It is their internal process. We do not know."
Asked when Sridevi's body can be flown out, he said, it was difficult to give any timeline as the UAE authorities were doing their process.
The Dubai government's media office said on Twitter, 'Following the completion of post mortem analysis, Dubai police headquarters today stated that the death of the Indian actress Sridevi occurred due to drowning in her hotel apartment's bath tub following loss of consciousness.'
It also said in a tweet that the police have transferred the case to the "Dubai Public Prosecution" which will carry out regular legal procedures followed in such cases.
It is not clear what caused Sridevi, 54, to lose consciousness, and whether the initial report of her death due to cardiac arrest still holds.
Her death, which was first reported at around 3 AM on Sunday in India, sent shock waves across the country with those who knew her at a loss to explain how she could have suffered cardiac arrest at such a young age.
The latest report of accidental drowning only deepens the mystery surrounding her death.
IMAGE: Rekha at Anil Kapoor's home to pay her condolences. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar
Many colleagues and friends of the couple and their children have visited Anil Kapoor's Juhu home to offer their condolences to Jahnvi and Khushi Kapoor and their family.
Jahnvi did not travel to Dubai for Mohit's wedding. She was in Mumbai shooting for her first film, Dhadak.
