Arun Jaitley's funeral procession leaves BJP headquarters

New Delhi: A large crowd gathered outside the BJP headquarters here on Sunday for a last glimpse of former Finance minister and BJP leader Arun Jaitley as his body was taken to Nigambodh Ghat for cremation. The cremation will take place at 2.30 p.m.

Security was beefed up outside the BJP headquarters on Deendayal Upadhyay Road, with both police and paramilitary forces deployed in strength.

In the morning, hordes of people tried to enter the BJP headquarters when the body of Jaitley, who died at AIIMS on Saturday, was brought there in a procession from his house in Kailash Colony, south Delhi.

Union Ministers Amit Shah, Harsh Vardhan, Rajnath Singh and Piyush Goyal, Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das and Bharatiya Janata Party National Working President J.P. Nadda were among those who paid homage to the departed leader at the party headquarters.

Remembering Jaitley, his close friend and television anchor Rajat Sharma, said: "One can never find a friend like him. Will always remain on the path he showed."