Former Trinamul Congress MLA and retired IPS officer Sultan Singh died at a private hospital on the EM Bypass on Sunday. The resident of FE Block was 76 and is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

According to family sources, he had fully recovered from cancer but had a bout of pneumonia last week. He was hospitalised on Friday after a drop in his oxygen level, though his Covid-19 test report came negative. He passed away after a cardiac arrest.

Singh was known as a daring police officer and had served in several key posts — as deputy commissioner, headquarters, and south as well as joint commissioner, Calcutta Police. He later became superintendent of police, Murshidabad. But he is best-known as superintendent of police, Howrah, a job for which he was hand-picked. He is credited with breaking a criminal racket in Golabari police station area during his tenure in the district.

He joined active politics after his retirement from the police force in 2004 on invitation from Pranab Mukherjee and unsuccessfully contested the 2004 Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket. He later shifted allegiance to the TMC and was elected in the 2011 Assembly elections from Bally.

According to family sources, he dissociated himself from politics from 2015 and did not want to contest the 2016 Assembly election. He was made the chairman of the Howrah Improvement Trust thereafter. He attended office regularly till even a month back, after which his health deteriorated.

He was a keen golfer and was a good athlete. “He used to run so fast that his colleagues nicknamed him Ghoda Singh. He was very popular in Howrah. Someone who visited us from Bally pointed out that he shared his birthday with Swami Vivekananda, on January 12. Even in death, the date coincides with the death anniversary of the monk,” a family member said.

While chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted in condolence, minister and local MLA Sujit Bose dropped by on Sunday. On Monday, the governor and his wife also visited the bereaved family.

Did you know Sultan Singh? Write to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or email to saltlake@abp.in