Kolkata, Dec 23: Olympians and dignitaries of the state government on Sunday bid their final adieus to legendary hockey player Leslie Claudius whose mortal remains were laid to rest at the Lower Circular Road Cemetery in Kolkata.
Claudius' last journey began at 10.50 am from the Peace Haven and the first stop was his club, Customs Tent, where his former teammate Keshav Dutt of the 1948 and 1952 Olympic-winning team paid his last homage.
The procession then went through Veteran's Club before reaching Rabindra Sadan, where the body was kept for more than one hour for public veneration.
Olympians, Bir Bahadur Chhetri, Chuni Goswami, Samar Banerjee and Tulasi Balaram were among others who were present during the occasion even as Chief minister Mamata Banerjee was conspicuous by her absence.
But Mamata had sent a bouquet with a condolence message, while Sports Minister Madan Mitra, MP Derek O'Brien were present. Also seen were former sports minister Kanti Ganguly and former mayor Subrata Mukherjee.
The former players raised hockey sticks as a mark of respect to the mortal remains of Claudius was taken to St. Paul's Cathedral for a mass.
The mortal remains was then taken to the Lower Circular Cemetery to be buried near his son Robert, who died in a road accident after returning from representing India at the Mexico World Cup, 1978.
Triple Olympic gold medallist Claudius was laid to rest around 5 pm in presence of his family members.
