You couldn’t have visited AE Market without noticing the big, burly fruit seller sitting on the footpath outside. His name was Chandi Hati but in the field of jatra, he was the renowned villain who went by the name of Kalo Cheetah.

The cheetah will never roar again. He died on February 17 at his home in Rajarhat. He was 47. “He had a drinking problem and had been admitted at RG Kar (Medical College and Hospital). But when the doctors gave up, we brought him home, where he died,” says his younger brother Debkumar Hati, who continues to man the fruit shop.

The Telegraph had written about Chandi in the article “Jatra Star of AE Market,” on January 4 last year, where he recalled his humble beginnings in the Sundarbans, before setting out to Chitpore to make a mark in performing arts. He performed across the country, within Salt Lake and even with thespian Utpal Dutt in Rifle, after which people honoured him with the stage name Kalo Cheetah. Posters of his ongoing jatras would often be pasted at the fruit shop, which he started about 25 years ago. He was also a rickshaw driver.

“Dada had signed a new jatra this year but he was so unwell that the director asked him to bow out of it,” says Debkumar. “His jatra paid for my and my sister’s education. He quit school after Class IX but ensured we both become graduates. But we are all worried now as he leaves behind a wife and two school-going daughters.”

Chandi was popular among shoppers and many went to pay their respects when his body was brought to the market one last time. “Some elderly residents, who could not walk up, asked me to take the vehicle to their houses so they could see him one last time from their first floor balconies,” says Debkumar.

When some employees of an office in the block learnt that Chandi’s last wish was to be cremated at his birthplace, they paid for a van to take his body to the Sundarbans.