Rishi Kapoor's Death: Riddhima Permitted To Travel By Road To Attend His Funeral Amid Lockdown

Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor passed away at the age of 67 at Mumbai's HN Reliance Hospital on April 30. The actor breathed his last after a two-year battle with leukemia. Amid the nationwide lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports state that Rishi's daughter Riddhima Kapoor Sahni has been given permission to travel by road to Mumbai for his funeral.

As per an NDTV report, Riddhima, who is married to businessman Bharat Sahni and stays in Delhi, had asked the Union Home Ministry last night for permission to fly to Mumbai by a chartered flight.

A source told the portal that she was told permission to fly could only be given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. As an option, she asked to be allowed to drive to Mumbai and the permission was granted.

A senior police officer told NDTV, "She sought permission late at night. We had it within minutes." He further said that the Delhi Police has always given permission in such circumstances.

Reportedly, Riddhima will roughly cover a 1400 km journey by road, to attend Rishi Kapoor's last rites. Due to the Novel Coronavirus pandemic, flights, trains and inter-state travel has been banned in the country.

Meanwhile, Riddhima took to her Instagram page to mourn her father's death and wrote, "Papa I love you I will always love you - RIP my strongest warrior I will miss you everyday I will miss your FaceTime calls everyday! Until we meet again papa I love you ❤️😢."

Check out her post here.

Coming back to the NDTV report, it further stated that yesterday, over a month into the shutdown, the centre allowed the movement of stranded migrants, students and tourists desperate to return home. Others are allowed to travel by road in case of emergencies, with special passes.

Rishi Kapoor is survived by his wife Neetu and children, Ranbir and Riddhima. In a statement, his family said that he "would like to be remembered by his fans with a smile and not with tears."

This is the second loss for the film fraternity within two days. Yesterday, another critically-acclaimed actor, Irrfan Khan breathed his last. The actor was admitted at Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital for colon infection. Irrfan was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour in 2018.