Singer, Padma Bhushan recipient Sharda Sinha, 72, passes away at Delhi AIIMS
New Delhi, Nov 5: Popular folk singer Sharda Sinha, who was undergoing treatment at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Delhi, passed away on Tuesday night. She was 72.
"Sharda Sinha expired at 9.20 pm due to refractory shock as a result of septicemia," an AIIMS official said.
Sinha was known among her fans for folk songs such as "Kartik Maas Ijoriya" and "Koyal Bin" as well as Bollywood numbers "Taar Bijli" from "Gangs of Wasseypur- II" and "Babul" from "Hum Aapke Hain Koun".
Earlier, AIIMS said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuously monitoring Sinha's condition and has prayed for her speedy recovery.
Sinha, a Padma Bhushan recipient synonymous with folk songs in Bhojpuri, Maithili, and Maghahi languages, was on ventilator support following a health complication due to multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer.
The singer was admitted to the intensive care unit of Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital (IRCH), the cancer institute of AIIMS, last month.
"Noted folk singer, Smt. Sharda Sinha is admitted in AIIMS, New Delhi for treatment. Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji is continuously monitoring her condition and is in direct contact with the treating doctors. He has conveyed his prayers for her good health and speedy recovery through the treating team," AIIMS in a post on X said earlier.
Later in the day, Union minister Giriraj Singh visited the ailing artist at AIIMS.
On Monday evening, Food Processing Minister and Lok Sabha MP from Hajipur, Chirag Paswan also visited the hospital.
Known as Bihar Kokila, Supaul-born Sinha was famous in her native state and parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh courtesy her folk songs sung on occasions like Chhath Puja and weddings.
Some of her popular tracks are "Chhathi Maiya Aayi Na Duaariya", "Kartik Maas Ijoriya", "Dwar Chekai", "Patna Se", and "Koyal Bin".
The singer had been battling multiple myeloma since 2017.
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Chhattisgarh coal levy scam: Rs 4 crore assets of suspended IAS officer attached
Raipur (PTI): The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has attached properties of Rs 4 crore belonging to suspended IAS officer Sameer Vishnoi, an accused in a coal levy scam, for allegedly amassing assets beyond his known sources of income, officials said.
The EOW had registered a disproportionate assets case against Vishnoi in July 2024, an official release said on Saturday.
During the investigation, the agency identified nine immovable properties, valued at around Rs 4 crore, allegedly acquired through illicit means in the names of Vishnoi’s family members and associated firms, it said.
“An application seeking attachment of these properties was filed before the Special Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Raipur. Following a hearing on April 17, the court ordered attachment of all such properties,” the statement said.
Accordingly, the Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing attached the properties. The attached properties cannot be sold or transferred, it said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier provisionally attached five immovable properties linked to Vishnoi in connection with the coal levy scam, it added.
Proceedings are also underway in cases involving other public servants, including action taken in September last year against properties linked to Saumya Chaurasia, who was deputy secretary in the chief minister’s office during the Congress government, the statement said.
Vishnoi, a 2009-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, was first arrested in 2022 by the ED in connection with the alleged coal levy scam. He was among several accused who were granted bail last year by the Supreme Court.
The case refers to an alleged Rs 540 crore racket between July 2020 and June 2022, when an illegal levy of Rs 25 per tonne was being extorted by a cartel involving senior bureaucrats, businessmen, politicians and middlemen for every tonne of coal transported in the state.
