Legendary Ghazal singer D. Vithal Rao passed away here in the City on Thursday night. According to sources, Vithal Rao was brought to Gandhi Hospital as an unidentified patient in a critical condition on Wednesday and passed away the next day.
Senior doctors from the Forensic Department of state-run Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad conducted Post Mortem Examination (PME) of the body of renowned Ghazal signer Vithal Rao on Thursday. However, while conducting the PME, the hospital doctors had no idea that the body was indeed that of the singer because it was not identified.
“We conducted the post mortem on Thursday as an unknown body. Later, we had sent the body to the mortuary for cold storage and safe keeping till identification process is complete. On Friday, the local police and relatives managed to identify the body and informed us that it was singer Vithal Rao. We have also conducted embalming of the body so that it will survive and not decompose,” the hospital doctors said.
It may be mentioned here that Pandit Vithal Rao along with his family members had visited Shirdi earlier this month. His family members had lodged a complaint in Shirdi police station stating that he was missing. A manhunt was launched but in vain. It is not known, how the legendary singer reached Hyderabad till he was brought in a critical condition to Gandhi Hospital.
Popularly known as Pandit Vithal Rao, he was among the few living legends of Ghazals and the last court singer of Nizam of Hyderabad. Born in 1929 in Hyderabad, he popularised the Ghazals written by Hyderabadi writers.
Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday mourned the death of Vithal Rao. The CM said that Vithal Rao was the renowned court musician for the last Nizam. During the State Formation Day celebrations, the State Government even had felicitated the top singer. The CM extended heartfelt sympathies to the members of the bereaved family.
His last rites would be performed on Saturday morning.
