New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) Noted Hindi poet and Gandhian Vishnu Prabhakar died in the capital Saturday. He was 97.
Prabhakar was best known for his engaging biography of Bengali litterateur Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, “Awara Maseeha” and the trademark Gandhi cap he wore till the end of his life. The poet had been ailing for a long time.

Prabhakar is survived by two sons and two daughters. He had said that after his death, his body should be donated for medical research.

The poet made headlines in 2005 when he threatened to return the Padma Bhushan for alleged misconduct at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He won the Padma Bhushan and the Sahitya Akademi award for his novel, “Ardhanarishvara” (The Androgynous God or Shiva).

“Prabhakar’s death is a great loss to Indian literature. To my knowledge, he was the last Hindi litterateur who upheld the old high traditions and values of the freedom struggle in his writings,” Janardan Dwivedi, Congress general secretary and a Prabhakar aficionado, told IANS.