Kolkata: Singing legend Sandhya Mukherjee, also known as Sandhya Mukhopadhyay passed away at the age of 91 after a cardiac arrest on Tuesday.
The information of her demise was shared by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shantanu Sen on Twitter.
The veteran Bengali singer suffered a massive cardiac arrest earlier in the day and despite extensive efforts to revive her, she passed away, hospital sources told news agency PTI.
91-year-old Mukherjee breathed her last at around 7.30 PM, a hospital official said.
The hospital sources also informed that the veteran singer had been in the hospital since January 27 due to ill health and was put on vasopressor support and shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) earlier in the day following a drop in her blood pressure.
Sandhya Mukherjee was in the news after she turned down the Padma Shri and was hospitalised in the last week of January for complications arising out of Covid-19 infection.
She refused the offer of Padma Shri award when she was contacted by central government officials telephonically for her consent.
According to reports, Sandhya Mukherjee's Soumi Sengupta said the veteran singer told the senior official who called from Delhi that she was not willing to be named a Padma Shri recipient in the Republic Day awards list.
Sengupta told PTI that at the age of 90, with a singing career spanning about eight decades, being chosen for Padma Shri is demeaning for a singer of her mother's stature.
Padma Shri is more deserving for a junior artiste, not 'Gitasree' Sandhya Mukhopadhay. Her family and all the lovers of her songs feel bad," Sengupta said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the passing of the veteran singer.
"The passing away of Gitashree Sandhya Mukhopadhyay Ji leaves us all extremely saddened. Our cultural world is a lot poorer. Her melodious renditions will continue to enthral the coming generations. My thoughts are with her family and admirers in this sad hour. Om Shanti," he tweeted.
Reacting to the news, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took to Twitter and extended her condolences.
"Deeply saddened that Geetashree Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, the queen of melody in Bengal, is no more. Her departure creates an eternal void in our world of music and in the hearts of millions of her followers here and in the diaspora," she tweeted.
Sandhya Mukherjee was an Indian playback singer and musician, specialising in Bengali music. She received Banga Bibhushan, the highest civilian honour of the Indian state of West Bengal in 2011.
She also won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her songs in the films such as Jay Jayanti and Nishi Padma in the year 1970. She has also sang, as a playback singer, in 17 Hindi films.