New Delhi, March 31 (PTI): Senior Akali Dal leader and Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra died in a private hospital late tonight. He was 79.

Tohra died 41 minutes after midnight following a heart attack at the Escorts Heart Institute, assistant administrator Mathur Verma said. The SGPC chief was this evening flown here from Amritsar for advanced treatment and was in a serious condition after suffering a massive heart attack on Thursday.

Born at Tohra village of Patiala district in Punjab in September 1924, Tohra had an early interest in religion and was an active Akali worker even before India’s partition. He became general secretary of the Patiala unit of the Akali Dal in 1947.