Shillong: Former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam, a popular President between 2002 and 2007, passed away after he collapsed during a lecture in Shillong.
Kalam, 84, took ill at a function in Shillong and was rushed to the hospital.
The former President collapsed during a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management in Shillong at around 6.30 pm and was taken to the hospital. TV reports earlier said that Kalam suffered a massive cardiac arrest at the function at IIM Shillong.
He had been admitted to the ICU at the hospital.
"The former president was brought almost dead to our hospital. He is in a critical condition. We are trying to revive the patient," John Sailo Ryntathiang, director of Bethany Hospital, told IANS.
Earlier during the day, Kalam had tweeted about his function at IIM Shillong.
Going to Shillong.. to take course on Livable Planet earth at iim. With @srijanpalsingh and Sharma.
— APJ Abdul Kalam (@APJAbdulKalam) July 27, 2015
Kalam was closely involved in the country's civilian space programme and military missile development efforts, earning him the sobriquet 'India's Missile Man'. He worked as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) before he became president.
He also played a pivotal technical and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, shortly after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government came to power.
After his term, he returned to a life of education, writing, and public service. He received several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor.
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 in a poor Tamil Muslim family in Rameswaram. But he overcame all odds to study physics and aerospace engineering.
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