Kolkata: Playback singer KK voiced “no complaints” about being unwell at his Kolkata concert Tuesday and had been on “stage for close to two hours, performing”, a celebrity manager present at the event has told ThePrint.
KK or Krishnakumar Kunnath, a beloved artiste who commanded a massive fan following driven by his film as well as independent pop repertoire, died of a suspected heart attack after his concert at Kolkata’s Nazrul Mancha auditorium. He was 53.
He reportedly collapsed after returning to his hotel, and was rushed to a private hospital nearby, where doctors declared him brought dead.
Opposition parties in West Bengal, the BJP and the Congress, have since alleged possible mismanagement at the concert as a potential factor in his death. Among other things, they have cited lack of ventilation at the venue and claimed that KK was “profusely sweating”.
The concert Tuesday was organised by Gurudas College, according to celebrity manager Bijit Dey of Kolkata-based BlackEyed Event House, which had arranged for KK to sing at the event.
“KK arrived in Kolkata on Monday morning. He had two concerts lined up that day and the next. On both days he completed the full show,” said Dey.
Speaking about Tuesday’s Nazrul Mancha concert, where Dey claimed to be present backstage, he added, “The crowd was slightly more than the capacity of the auditorium. But the event was organised by students of Gurudas College, so we did not have any role in crowd control.”
If any artiste feels unwell during a show, Dey said, “we immediately stop, but last night KK did not say anything about feeling unwell”. “It’s only after he reached the hotel lobby that he collapsed on the floor,” he added.
While an autopsy is being carried out at the government-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, the singer’s wife, son and daughter have arrived in the city.
The Kolkata Police has filed a case of unnatural death at New Market Police Station in connection with KK’s demise. Kolkata Police Joint Commissioner (Crime), Murlidhar Sharma reached the Grand Hotel — where KK had been staying — around 10am Wednesday.
While Kolkata Police hasn’t issued any official statement in the case so far, sources in the force told ThePrint that CCTV footage from the hotel lobby has been seized for examination.
Calls for ‘thorough inquiry’
As videos of KK’s last on-stage performance went viral, senior Congress parliamentarian and West Bengal Pradesh Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury took to Twitter to seek a “thorough enquiry by a competent authority” into the singer’s death. He alleged that “mismanagement” during the singer’s performance could have “triggered his death”.
All said and done I do demand a thorough inquiry behind the sad demise of singer #KK by a competent authority
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— Adhir Chowdhury (@adhirrcinc) June 1, 2022
BJP National Vice-President Dilip Ghosh told the media in Kolkata Wednesday that “the air conditioners were switched off, outside there was a problem with the crowd, KK was profusely sweating”.
“When a high-profile celebrity comes to the city, people lose control, why didn’t the police provide more security? Maybe the packed auditorium and no ventilation led to his death,” he added.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cut short a scheduled Trinamool Congress event in Bankura to return to Kolkata and pay her last respects to the singer.
“We will accord a gun salute to KK at the Kolkata airport as a mark of respect. I have also spoken to his wife this morning. West Bengal Minister Arup Biswas is at the hospital (where the post-mortem is being carried out),” she said at the event at Bankura.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: KK dies at 53: A look back at the musical journey of Bollywood’s most versatile singer