Raju Srivastava is on ventilator and continues to recover "slowly", the renowned comedian-actor's wife Shikha Srivastava said on Thursday. In a statement issued on Srivastava's official Instagram page, Shikha said the stand-up artist is "stable". "Raju Srivastava Ji's condition is stable and he continues to recover slowly. He is on the ventilator at the moment," she said.

Earlier in the day, several media publications had reported that Srivastava, 58, had gained consciousness 15 days after he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of AIIMS following a heart attack here. Shikha requested the media and the comedian's fans to only trust statements issued by the family on his official social media pages and the hospital. "Only statements from AIIMS Delhi and Raju Ji's official social media accounts are trustworthy and genuine. Any other news or statements from anyone else is unreliable.