Lokpal Judicial Member and former Chief Justice of the Chattisgarh High Court Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi, who had tested positive for the coronavirus infection, died on Saturday after suffering a cardiac arrest at the AIIMS Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre. He was 62.
Justice Tripathi tested positive for the coronavirus last month and had been in the intensive care unit after his admission. He was on ventilator support for more than a fortnight but could not be revived, sources said.
Justice Tripathi was one of the four judicial members of the anti-corruption ombudsman, Lokpal. He was admitted to the AIIMS and tested positive for the deadly virus on April 2. He was later shifted to the trauma centre, that provides treatment mostly to victims of road accidents but has been recently converted into a dedicated COVID-19 hospital, they said. He was the first patient to have been shifted to the facility, they added.
He had also served as the Additional Advocate General for the State of Bihar and was elevated to the post of Additional Judge of the Patna High Court and later became the Chief Justice.
He was appointed as the Judicial Member of the Lokpal on March 23 last year.
-India Legal Bureau