Bengali film actor and former TMC MP Tapas Paul died at a private hospital in Mumbai on Monday night. He was 61.
The former legislator, who was elected to the Lower House from Krishnanagar constituency in 2009 and 2014, suffered a heart attack on February 2 and had been admitted in the hospital since then. He is survived by his wife and daughter.
Paul, who was the lead actor in Madhuri Dixit’s debut Hindi film Abodh (1984), was the most popular actor in Bengal at one point of time. “Saddened and shocked....he was a superstar of Bengali cinema who was a member of the Trinamool family. Tapas served the people as a two-term MP and MLA. We will miss him dearly,” tweeted West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“He was a star but with a boy-next-door image. I don’t think anyone became so popular as an actor after superstar Uttam Kumar Chattopadhyay,” said film director Arindam Sil.
“I cannot believe he is no more. We acted together in one movie after another,” said Trinamool legislator and one of Paul’s friends and co-actors, Debasree Roy.
The last few years of his life were riddled with controversies. In 2015, Paul was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Saradha chit fund case. In 2016, the agency arrested him in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. He was in custody for 13 months before a court in Odisha gave him bail.
{{/usCountry}}The last few years of his life were riddled with controversies. In 2015, Paul was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Saradha chit fund case. In 2016, the agency arrested him in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. He was in custody for 13 months before a court in Odisha gave him bail.
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