Hours after Dubai Police transferred the case of Indian actor Sridevi's death to Dubai Public Prosecution following revelation that she died due to "accidental drowning" in her hotel room, reports suggest that Sridevi’s body will remain there for another day.
The Dubai Public Prosecution will conduct further investigation and would look into the circumstances that led to her drowning.
According to a post on the official Dubai Media Office Twitter handle, Dubai Police had transferred the case to Dubai Public Prosecution, which will carry out regular legal procedures that are followed in such cases.
"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 ascertain what exactly happened. Her body was taken to the General Department of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy.
Most reports from Dubai media seem to suggest that the police have ruled out foul play and the transfer of the case was standard procedure.
A chief prosecutor told Gulf News: "In such accidental death incidents, the results of the post-mortem 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."
According to local media reports, the Indian Embassy is in talks with the Dubai authorities to get clearance and is hopeful it will happen "soon", though the embassy officials could not provide a definite time for the repatriation of the body.
Earlier, India's Ambassador to the UAE Navdeep Singh Suri had told the media that they had got clearance from Dubai authorities to repatriate Sridevi's mortal remains. But, the new development of the case being referred to the public prosecution further delayed the repatriation.
A day earlier, a Dubai Police forensic report stated that 54-year-old Sridevi died due to "accidental drowning" in the bathtub of her hotel room in Dubai before her surprise dinner date with husband and film producer Boney Kapoor.
A day after media reported that she had died following cardiac arrest on Saturday night, a Dubai Police forensic report stated that the 54-year-old had passed away due to accidental drowning.
The forensic report also mentioned traces of alcohol in her blood, while media reports added that she may have lost balance, fell into the bathtub and drowned.
Sridevi, Boney, and their younger daughter Khushi Kapoor were in Ras Al Khaimah, another part of UAE, last week to celebrate the wedding of her actor-nephew Mohit Marwah.
Boney had returned to Mumbai after the wedding, but decided to return to Dubai to "surprise" his wife.
IANS inputs