Thousands lined up on both sides of the over 2-km road from Rabindra Sadan to the Keoratala crematorium in the city on Wednesday and her evergreen Bengali songs were played over the public address system as the body of legendary singer Sandhya Mukherjee was taken on its last journey.
The nonagenarian icon, who had worked with leading music directors like Sachin Dev Barman, Naushad and Salil Chaudhury had died in a city hospital on Tuesday evening following a massive cardiac arrest leaving behind legions of mourning fans of all ages.
Mukherjee was accorded gun salute and her last rites were conducted with full state honours at around 6 pm in the presence of the chief minister and other ministers. Her family - daughter and son-in-law and friends were present at the crematorium while thousands of people waited outside as entry was restricted.
Her evergreen songs were played at the crematorium too as her body was being taken to the electric pyre.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her ministerial colleagues Arup Biswas, Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya and minister of state for culture Indranil Sen walked with the flower bedecked hearse which moved through Harish Mukherjee Road to the crematorium.
Ms Banerjee also placed flowers at the portrait of Bappi Lahiri at nearby Ektara Manch, where the state government had held a memorial service for the composer-singer.
Among those who paid floral tributes were Left Front chairman Biman Bose and its other senior leaders, BJP chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya and BJYM state president Indranil Khan. Actor Rituparna Sengupta and singer Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta also placed wreaths.
"She was very close to my father Shyamal Mitra (a popular yesteryears singer) and was like a mother to me. There are so many memories," singer Saikat Mitra said before the hearse left Rabindra Sadan, where it had been kept till 5 pm for thousands of her fans to pay their last respect.
Sanat Palodhi, a singer from Chakdah said he had left his home 74 km away in the early morning years to pay his last respects to Sandhya Mukherjee, who had regaled Bengalis with her songs across generations.
Mukherjee had been in the hospital since January 27 due to ill health and was put on vasopressor support and shifted to the intensive care unit on Tuesday following a drop in her blood pressure.
A day before she fell sick, Mukherjee had refused to accept the Padma Shri saying it did not befit her stature.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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