Descendants of Gandhi, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Governor of Maharashtra S M Krishna and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra R R Patil were present at the ceremony held in South Mumbai on Wednesday morning.

The Mumbai Police gave a ceremonial guard of honour prior to the immersion of the ashes at the historic Girgaum Chowpatty in South Mumbai.

After the immersion of ashes in rivers and oceans across the country following the assassination of the Father of the Nation in 1948, the last urn containing the ashes was kept at Mani Bhawan, where Gandhi lived while visiting the city.

This is the second instance in 60 years where an urn containing the ashes of Mahatma was found and later immersed.

In the first instance an urn was found in a bank locker in Bhubhaneshwar in 1997 and the ashes were immersed in Allahabad, Dhirubhai Mehta, head of the trust which maintains Mani Bhavan, said.