Singer KK complained of pain in arms, severe fatigue before concert; final autopsy report says hypoxia led to heart failure

Singer KK’s death, within hours after his live performance at Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata, had thrown open several questions after police filed a case of ‘unnatural death’ preliminarily. However, all the conspiracy theories and stories of ‘foul play’ died down quickly after authorities confirmed that the initial autopsy had revealed that KK’s cause of death was indeed heart failure.

While the news of the beloved singer passing away at the age of 53 was hard for the fans to accept, his final autopsy, which the police shared on Saturday, June 4 2022, points toward pre-existing heart issues, with a number of other medical conditions that is shocking to say the least.

To begin with, according to sources quoted by India Today, the singer had pain in his arms and was experiencing severe fatigue prior to the concert. In fact, several media reports claimed that the singer was sweating profusely during the performance, and complained of not feeling well.


KK’s final autopsy, according to India Today, says that the singer suffered from ‘hypoxia following Acute Cardiogenic Pulmonary Oedema, caused due to a pathological condition of heart, associated with subarachnoid haemorrhage.’

For the uninitiated, hypoxia is the state during which oxygen is not sufficiently available in tissue level to maintain homeostasis. It can occur due to two causes, either due to insufficient oxygen delivery to the tissues or low blood supply or low oxygen content in the blood.

The aforementioned media report claims that in KK’s case, his heart couldn’t pump the volume of blood it was receiving from the lungs which lead to amplified pressure on the organ causing its failure. The condition is also known as cardiogenic pulmonary oedema.

The autopsy points to the fact that the singer already had pre-existing heart conditions that could have been an added factor. The singer reportedly had increased accumulation of epicardial fat in his heart.

“Yellowish-white plaques were seen critically narrowing the lumen of the proximal part of the posterior interventricular artery. Upon dissection of the artery distal to the plaque, no blood came out,” India Today quoted the autopsy report.

The police department is yet to get reports from the state FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) and the Department of Pathology.