Police launch probe into Vani Jairam’s death

Chennai: The police have launched an investigation into the death of renowned playback singer Vani Jairam after it emerged that she was found on the floor of her house at Nungambakkam in Chennai on Saturday morning with a deep injury on the forehead.

Vani was living alone in the house for the last three years after the death of her husband. At 11 am on Saturday, the singer did not open the door when the maid arrived and rang the bell.

The maid alerted the neighbours and Vani’s relatives. When the door was not opened even when the relatives called Vani, the police were informed.

The police soon arrived and forced open the door and Vani was found on the floor near her cot. Her forehead had apparently hit a teapoy near the cot during a fall, said the police. The police immediately took Vani to a nearby hospital, but she was declared dead on arrival.
The singer’s body was subsequently shifted to a government hospital for autopsy. A recipient of the Padma Bhushan Award this year, Vani has won the national award for best singer thrice. She has lent voice to over 10,000 songs in 20 languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada and Gujarati.