Dying With Their Boots On -- And Relatively Young

Recently reported untimely death of two young CEOs has shaken up the corporate world. Both the corporate scions, under 50 years of age, passed away suddenly due to a cardiac arrest.

Agnivesh, eldest son of Anil Agarwal of the Vedanta Group, passed away in the U.S. after a sudden cardiac arrest. The 49-year old Agnivesh was the chairman of Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. His father described him as “healthy, full of life and dreams”. He was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York after a skiing accident, was even recovering well but alas! Life rarely follows a straight line. 

The second demise of Siddhartha Bhaiya (49), founder & MD of Aequitas Investment Advisors. Siddharatha, regarded as one of Dalal Street’s most respected small-cap investors, was holidaying with his family in New Zealand when the tragedy struck his family. He suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on December 31, 2025. 

These two deaths brought back memories of my former neighbor Ambareesh Murty, co-founder of online furniture store Pepperfry who had passed away in August 2023. Fifty-one years old Ambareesh loved adventure sports -- bungee jumping, cross-country biking and trekking. He had gone on his motorbike from Mumbai to Leh for an offsite when the tragedy struck him on the road. He died of a cardiac arrest. 

These are not isolated incidents. Over the last five years, I found out that several CEOs and celebrities, all under 50, had passed away after a sudden cardiac arrest. They include:

·      Forty-two years old Rohan Mirchandani, co-founder and CEO of Epigamia, a yogurt brand that had revolutionised India’s dairy segment who suffered a fatal cardiac arrest. That was in December 2024. 

·      Sunjay Kapur, 53-year-old chairman of Sona Comstar passed away in June 2025. He collapsed while playing a polo match in England. Reports said he had swallowed a bee that led to the heart attack. 

·      Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar died of heart attack in October 2021 while working out at the gym. He was only 46.

·      Singer KK (Krishnakumar Kunnath) known for his high energy shows died in May 2022 of cardiac arrest soon after a live performance in Kolkata. He was 53.

The common thread that tied them all was their young ages – all were either in their late 40s or early 50s. My educated guess is each one of them must have done their health check-ups regularly despite which the big tragedy befell their families. 

Several questions crossed my mind. How come somebody who is a fitness freak suffers a sudden cardiac arrest? Why was it not detected during their regular health check-ups? Was it genetic, lifestyle, stress or destiny?

To get answers I spoke to two Mumbai-based doctors – one a Physician-Intensivist attached to a well-known tertiary hospital and the other, a seasoned General Practitioner. 

Dr Vikrant Shah, Physician-Intensivist of Zen Hospital, Mumbai says besides genetics there are two big reasons -- one is financial stress and the second one is lack of sleep because of the stress. In the case of CEOs, financial stress is a bigger issue plus they have financial targets to meet. Not enough sleep takes its toll …it can eventually lead to cardiac arrest.” Dr Shah says post Covid-19 the number of youngsters suffering from fatal heart attacks has gone up. 

Dr Suhas Naik who has a good grip on a wide range of common health issues being a GP says, “In some cases, it could be genetics, in some cases it could be because people who overdo their exercise. For instance, if a gym instructor says lift dumbbells five times…some people may do it 20 times to get into shape faster…that could backfire at times. And sometimes in freak cases your arteries can go into a spasm…and it closes suddenly...stopping blood supply. That could be the reason for sudden cardiac arrest.”

As for the stress, it could be multiple stress factors for CEOs and celebrities…it could be court cases, competition, tax evasion, the ‘other woman’. For these top guns keeping the kitchen fire going or paying EMIs or school fees are no stress; those are for the middle-class people. 

Basically, the headline may scream it was a heart attack but there could be a series of multiple factors behind-the-scenes that finally leads to that fatal blow. Nowadays it has become fashionable to take substances and this in the long run could lead to cardiac arrests.

Interestingly, the half-page obit advertisement put out by Siddharatha’s family has a philosophical quote from him, "Money is a by-product. You have to have a higher objective in life. You live once -- make the most of it."

Makes sense if you have enough money. Here, I recall a conversation I had with Anshuman Ruia, scion of the Essar Group many moons ago. A great votary for work-life balance, he was not interested in working 24X7, 365 days of the year. He mentioned his builder friend who, like him, had all the trappings of life -- private jet, fast cars et al. He said his builder friend made it a point to leave office by 6 pm every day to be with his family and friends. Soon Anshuman shifted to Dubai. Realistically speaking, in India, work-life balance is for the privileged few.

After essaying such a depressing story, I felt that I should end this column on a lighter note. Long ago, somebody had posted on Facebook that BKS Iyengar practiced yoga all his life and died at the age of 96 while noted journalist-author Khushwant Singh drank one peg of whisky every day and died at the age of 99. The moral of the story: Whisky gives you three extra years. Live life king size. Cheers!