Actor Pijush Ganguly, who had met with an accident while driving back home on Saptami (Tuesday) afternoon, died of multi-organ failure at a city hospital early on Sunday.

Ganguly, 54, suffered multiple fractures when his Hyundai Santro was hit head-on by a bus that was speeding to overtake another on the narrow Santragachhi overbridge, part of Kona Expressway.

The condition of the actor, who was being treated at Belle Vue Clinic, turned critical on Thursday afternoon as his blood pressure dipped and heart rate increased alarmingly, doctors said. He was put on ventilator. He died at 2.45am on Sunday, hospital officials said.

Ganguly - a known face on screens small and big, as well as on stage - had undergone a five-hour operation on Wednesday to fix four fractures in his right leg, two in the shin bone and two in the thigh bone. "Infection had set in with the wounds, leading to septicaemia that finally resulted in multi-organ failure," a Belle Vue official said.

"There were also four fractures in his right leg and one in the elbow. Five of his ribs were broken and there were two fractures in the hip. There were facial injuries, too."

Doctors had planned to conduct multiple surgeries on his arm and face this week but his condition started worsening from Thursday. "In such a situation, it wasn't advisable to put him under anaesthesia and conduct a major surgery," a doctor said.

Pijush and dancer Malabika Sen, who was in the same car, were initially taken to Howrah District Hospital, from where they were shifted to Belle Vue the same evening.

Ganguly started his acting career as a theatre artiste in the early 1980s. He worked with theatre veterans like Ramaprasad Banik, Bibhas Chakraborty, Arun Mukherjee and Bratya Basu.

He made his film debut in Amodini (1994), directed by Chidananda Dasgupta, and went on to act in Mahulbanir Sereng, Byomkesh Bakshi (2010), Autograph, Abar Byomkesh, Madly Bangali, Goynar Baksho and Chaar.

In the ongoing STAR Jalsha mega serial Jal Nupur, Ganguly played Amartya, protagonist Aparajita Adhya's husband. The duo are paired in another STAR Jalsha soap, Chokher Tara Tui. "We go back a long way, we were co-stars in various tele-films and films.... He never grew up, he remained child-like," said Aparajita.

In his last stage appearance, Pijush played Mr Peachum - a man who runs a business with beggars - in Chanda Dutt's play Teen Penny Opera. "As an actor Pijush was very receptive and adjustable. And he was a great co-actor... multi-talented," Chanda said.

Anjan Dutt said: "Pijush had a rare combination of humility and acting skills. An underrated actor in our industry, he had a strong sense of understanding a script and a subtlety that made it so easy to work with him."

Malabika Sen, who had undergone a plastic surgery on her right earlobe on Wednesday, was discharged from Belle Vue Clinic on Sunday morning.