Chennai (PTI): Iconic singer Vani Jayaram who has crooned over 10,000 songs in 19 languages, including the very popular Hindi number 'Bole re papihara' died here on Saturday.

She was 77 and was living alone at a downtown apartment, where she was found dead, police said.

Vani Jayaram's husband predeceased her and she had no children, the singer's domestic help said.

The singer's maid said she turned up as usual for work on Saturday. However, she did not get any response despite repeatedly pressing the calling bell, she told reporters here.

Immediately, she said, she alerted the singer's relatives who informed police.

In the presence of Vani Jayaram's relatives, police broke open the door and found her dead, she said.

Malarkodi, who has been working for the past 10 years as a maid in the singer's house said police found an injury on Vani Jayaram's forehead. Police said she may have fallen down and injured herself.

Asked if she had any health issues, the worker said she was perfectly alright.

"She was busy receiving guests and well-wishers who visited her to greet her for getting the Padma Bhushan award. Phone was endlessly ringing and she answered all the calls and thanked everyone who greeted her. She lived alone," the woman said.

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Mumbai, Apr 4 (PTI): Equity benchmarks Sensex on Friday slumped over 900 points to crash below the 76,000 level due to an across-the-board sell-off, tracking weak global markets amid growing global trade war fears.

Besides, a sharp correction in crude prices and a heavy sell-off in market heavyweights Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro and Infosys added to the gloom, analysts said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 930.67 points or 1.22 per cent to settle at 75,364.69. During the day, it plummeted 1,054.81 points or 1.38 per cent to hit an intraday low of 75,240.55.

The broader NSE Nifty declined 345.65 points or 1.49 per cent to close at 22,904.45. In the session, the 50-share benchmark gauge 382.2 points or 1.64 per cent to 22,867.90.

Tata Steel was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, sliding 8.59 per cent, followed by Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharmaceutical, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and NTPC, were the major laggards.

On the other hand, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Nestle India, ICICI Bank, ITC, Asian Paints and Axis Bank were among the gainers.

In broader markets, the BSE midcap gauge plunged 3.08 per cent, while smallcap index declined 3.43 per cent.

"Markets slumped in sync with the crash in global equities with sectors crashing over 2-6 per cent on broad-based selling," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Investors fear Trump's reciprocal tariff policy will fuel recession and drive inflation in the US going ahead and engulf other key economies. A sharp fall in metal and oil stocks is indicating that demand could be hit amid slowdown fears, Tapse added.

In Asian markets, Tokyo and Seoul ended lower. Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets remained closed for the holidays.

European markets were trading lower in the mid-session deals. US markets closed lower in overnight deals on Thursday, witnessing their biggest drop since 2020.

Global oil benchmark Brent Crude slipped 3.26 per cent to USD 67.85 a barrel.

"Crude oil prices plunged after the US President announced heavy reciprocal trade tariffs, triggering fears of slower global demand. A sharp tariff hike on China spooked energy markets, leading to crude oil's biggest single-day fall in three years," Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,806 crore on Thursday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 221.47 crore on a net basis.

On Thursday, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 322.08 points to close at 76,295.36, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 82.25 points to settle at 23,250.10.