Sardar Davinder Singh passed away on Sunday, August 19, after he suffered a heart attack followed by a brain haemorrhage.
Mr Singh is survived by a daughter and wife who is pregnant with the second child. Singh's wife and daughter are visiting Auckland on a visitor's visa. They were supposed to return to their native place in Punjab.
The family decided to perform the last rites in Auckland. The community has come together to help the family in a hard time. Over 40,000 NZD has been raised in less than a day.
Kin Kaur, the wife of Mr Davinder Singh, has thanked the community personally on Facebook. A Facebook post said, "To all friends and loved one who helped us in donation campaign being run to meet funeral expenses of Late Sardar Devinder Singh. We really appreciate the big and instant help given by all of you whoever supported and came along helped us in this situation. "
Sardar Kharag Singh, a community leader from Auckland, told SBS Hindi that the last rites would be performed on Thursday, August 23rd.
"The family members from India will not be able to join because of the time constraint. So, the grieving wife decided to go ahead with the funeral here in Auckland. It is on Thursday at 2 pm," said Mr Kharak Singh.