A week after actors Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan and a string of ministers were seen personally paying their condolences to Sahara chief Subrata Roy on the death of his mother, the ‘aadya shraadh’ — the first funeral ceremony, conducted on the eleventh day — of Chhabi Roy was marked on Sunday by the presence of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, among other politicians and filmstars.
Roy, who is in jail for alleged financial irregularities, was released on parole for four weeks to perform the last rites of his mother. His parole, which was to expire on June 4, was later extended till July 11.
Apart from Sahara employees, yoga guru Ramdev and his associate Balkrishna, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind leader Maulana Mahmood Madani, Haryana MLA Abhay Singh Chautala, and Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, chairman of All India Anti-Terrorist Front, attended the ceremony, which marks the tenth day of Roy’s mother’s death, at Sahara Shaher Auditorium here.
Several from the film industry, including singer Nitin Mukesh, veteran actor Sanjay Khan with his Fardeen Khan and daughter-in-law Natasha Madhwani, comedian Raju Srivastava, were in attendance. Congress Rajya Sabha members Raj Babbar and Pramod Tiwari, SP Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agarwal and UP minister Abhishek Mishra, also participated in the post-death rituals of Chhabi Roy.
Two days ago, actors Sridevi and Anil Kapoor, director Boney Kapoor, Congress leader Rajiv Shukla, cricketer-turned-politician Kirtivardhan Azad, BJP leader Lalji Tandon as well as cricketer Kapil Dev had met Roy to pay their condolences, said the spokesperson of Sahara.