A Padma Shri awardee and former "Hazuri Raagi" at the Golden Temple who was undergoing treatment for coronavirus infection here died early Thursday morning, taking the COVID-19 death toll in the state to five, a health official said.
Nirmal Singh, the 62-year-old "Gurbani" exponent, had returned from abroad recently and was tested positive for the coronavirus infection on Wednesday, the official said.
Government Medical College Principal Sujata Sharma said his condition started deteriorating on Wednesday evening and he was put on ventilator support. He died at 4.30 am on Thursday.
The man was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here for chest infection after he had complained of breathlessness and dizziness, she said.
Meanwhile, Singh's mortal remains were consigned to flames at village Shukarchak on the outskirts of the city at around 8 pm, amid presence of police force and officials from the district administration.
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The last rites of the body were performed by the administration including officials of the health department as family members were not allowed to attend the cremation.
No family member was allowed for'Antim Darshan'(paying last respects), officials said.
Earlier, the administration was not allowed to cremate the body by people at cremation grounds first at city and then at Verka village, fearing spread of the infection.
Despite curfew restrictions, a large number of villagers assembled at the cremation ground at Verka village and stopped officials from cremating the body.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal took strong notice of not allowing Singh's cremation by villagers at Verka and sought action against those who prevented the last rites.
A clear directive should be issued by the government that no COVID -19 victim will be discriminated against and denied last rites in this manner, said Badal.
According to officials, Singh had held a large ''sammelan'' (religious gathering) in Delhi and some other places after he returned from abroad.
He had also performed a ''kirtan'' at a house in Chandigarh on March 19 along with his family members and other relatives.
The samples of his two daughters, son, wife, a driver and six others, who went along with him to Chandigarh, would be taken for testing for the virus, officials said.
The Chandigarh administration has also been informed about the religious gathering at sector 27 in Chandigarh to take necessary steps in this regard, they said.
The man was awarded Padma Shri in 2009. He had the knowledge of all 31 ''Raags'' in the Gurbani of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhism.
With his death, the total count of COVID-19-related deaths rose to five in the state.
Earlier, a 65-year-old man from Mohali, a 42-year woman from Ludhiana, a 62-year-old man from Hoshiarpur and 70-year-old man from Nawanshahr had succumbed to the infection.
Punjab has so far reported a total 47 coronavirus cases -- 19 from Nawanshahr, 10 from Mohali, seven from Hoshiarpur, five from Jalandhar, three from Ludhiana, two from Amritsar and one from Patiala.
Of them, one patient was discharged from hospital after his second test results came to be negative.
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