Former Additional Solicitor General Amarendra Sharan died of a heart attack at a resort near Rishikesh on Monday morning, Live Law reported. The 70-year-old senior advocate died in his sleep.

Sharan began practising in the Patna High Court in the 1970s, and later moved to Delhi. He became a senior advocate in 2000. He represented the Centre as the additional solicitor general during the first term of the Congress-led government from 2004 to 2009. In 2008, Sharan won the award for “outstanding contribution for the development of scientific jurisprudence” on National Law Day.

Some cases he was involved with in the Supreme Court in recent years included the coal scam, in which he represented the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Bhima Koregaon case, the tussle between two top CBI officers last year, and the 2G scam case.

Last year, Sharan was the amicus curiae – adviser to the court – in the case related to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. In 2017, the Supreme Court had appointed him the amicus curiae while hearing a petition seeking a re-investigation into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. He told the court that there was no evidence to prove that Gandhi was killed by anybody other than Nathuram Godse. The court dismissed the petition in March 2018.

He was seen speaking during an NDTV show last week on the withdrawal of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.