Admirers pay last respect to Ustad Rashid Khan

Kolkata: Thousands of admirers of Ustad Rashid Khan paid their last respects to the classical vocalist, whose body was kept for public view at the state-run cultural complex Rabindra Sadan on Wednesday.

A gun salute was given to the versatile classical vocalist whose body was kept in a casket decked with white flowers.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her cabinet colleagues were present at Rabindra Sadan.

Singer Usha Uthup, vocalist Pt Ajoy Chakraborty, his daughter and vocalist Kaushiki Chakraborty were among those who came to the venue to pay floral tributes.

Uthup said, "Rashid Bhai is like my younger brother who left so soon." Khan, who made Hindustani classical music accessible to countless listeners, died at a Kolkata hospital on Tuesday after a four-year battle with prostate cancer. He was 55.

Khan's body was brought to Ranindra Sada from his Naktala home in the morning after being taken from a private hospital.