Soumitra Chatterjee cremated with full state honours

Soumitra Chatterjee, one of Bengal's foremost actors, was cremated today with full state honours as hundreds of Kolkatans gave a tearful farewell.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, an array of leaders of CPI(M) with whom Soumitra was ideologically close, and hundreds of people took part in the funeral which made its way from Rabindra Sadan, the landmark cultural hub, to the Keoratala crematorium, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

As the funeral procession wound its way from Rabindra Sadan where Soumitra's body was kept for two hours to enable the people to pay their last respect, hundreds of people, including many with candles, lined up on both sides of the streets.

Placards, which had written on them "bidaye Feluda" and "Sangsarey Apu aar nei" were put up on the funeral route.

As Mamata, some of her Trinamool Congress leaders and CPI(M) veterans Biman Bose and Sujan Chakrabarty stood in silence, the cremation took place soon after the state police gave the late actor a gun salute and sounded the last post.

Soumitra, 85, died after a 40-day battle with post-Covid ailments.