Bengali actor and former Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Paul died of cardiac arrest early Tuesday (Feb 18), media report said citing family sources. He was 61.
Tapas, who went to Mumbai to visit his daughter, complained of chest pain at the Mumbai airport during his return to Kolkata and was rushed to a hospital in Juhu but died around 4 a.m., they said.
He had been suffering from heart ailments and been to hospitals several times for treatment during the past two years.
A two-term MP from Krishnanagar and MLA from Alipore, he is survived by his daughter and wife.
Tapas remained away from films after CBI arrested him in the Rose Valley chit-fund scam in December 2016 and was given bail after 13 months.
A romantic hero, having endeared himself to the Bengali audience since his debut film Dadar Kirti in 1980, Tapas became a known household name because of his lead roles in Saheb (1981), for which he was awarded the Filmfare Award, Parabat Priya (1984), Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985), Anurager Choyan (1986) and Amar Bandhan (1986).
Veteran Bengali actor Ranjit Mallick described Paul’s death as “untimely”.
“I am yet to come to terms with the news. He was like my younger brother. Yes he was not keeping well for some time,” Mr. Mallick said.
