Sahitya Akademi awardee found dead at Bengaluru home

He received the Akademi Translation prize in 2012 for his work “Akkaa”, a Tamil translation of short stories of various Kannada women writers.

Eminent translator and Sahitya Akademi award winner Dr G Nanjundan was found dead at his residence here on Saturday, police said.

Nanjundan, who worked as a lecturer in the department of statistics in the Bengaluru University, did not turn up for work for a few days. (Bangalore University)

Police said they suspect the 58-year-old Nanjundan died of cardiac arrest around four days ago and his decomposed body was found in his apartment at Nagadevanahalli. Dr Nanjundan earned recognition for translating more than a dozen books from Kannada to Tamil. They included Jnanpith award winner U R Ananthamurthy’s ‘Bhava’ and ‘Avasthe’.

He received the Akademi Translation prize in 2012 for his work “Akkaa”, a Tamil translation of short stories of various Kannada women writers.

According to police, Nanjundan, who worked as a lecturer in the department of statistics in the Bengaluru University, did not turn up for work for a few days.

When his assistant grew suspicious and went looking for him on Friday, he noticed foul smell emanating from the house.

He then alerted the lecturer’s wife and son, who were in Chennai. They came here and informed police, who broke open the door and found the decomposed body.

“He is suspected to have died of cardiac arrest,” a police officer told PTI.