M A I N   N E W S

Special to the tribune
Dev Anand to be cremated in London tomorrow
Shyam Bhatia in London

I am heartbroken, very depressed and have lost a beautiful father, a beautiful friend - my best friend,” says Dev Anand's son, Sunil, who was in the same London hotel as his father when he passed away last Saturday night at about 10 pm.

In an exclusive interaction with The Tribune, Sunil said, "It will take me a long time to get over it, but I know he's in Heaven looking down on me.”

"I was in an adjoining room last Saturday. He'd gone to sleep and he didn't respond. The medics were called... I called the medics and doctors right away... He was gone," he said.

Friends and other close associates of the Bollywood legend have revealed that London paramedics arrived within four minutes of being called to Dev Anand's hotel room where he suffered a massive cardiac arrest. Despite the best efforts of the paramedics lasting for more than half an hour, they could not revive him.

His personal doctor, Harley Street specialist Dr Keith, was also called and arrived soon afterwards.

Dev Anand's body was subsequently taken to the nearby Westminster morgue, pending a formal coroner's inquiry into the cause of death and Saturday's cremation at London's Putney Vale crematorium. A memorial reception will take place later the same day on the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan premises in the British capital.

Sunil, his sister Davina and their mother Kalpana are understood to be taking Dev Anand's ashes back to India next Wednesday.