Zaheeruddin Ali Khan, the Managing Editor Of The Siasat Daily, passed away of a massive cardiac arrest today.
He was 62, and is survived by a wife and two sons.
The Siasat Daily is one of the leading Urdu newspapers in India and one of the most respected, and is published from Hyderabad. Its website,
www.siasat.com, is popular across the world.
Khan was participating this afternoon in the funeral procession of the poet Gaddar, said to be a close friend of his, when he reportedly started experiencing discomfort in the chest near Alwal. Some people around him tried reviving him using CPR, but they failed. He was taken to a hospital in Alwal, but was declared brought dead.
Several leading people in the State and from across the country expressed grief at the passing. These included CM K Chandrashekar Rao, minister K T Rama Rao and TPCC head Revanth Reddy.
Khan was a highly respected figure in both the media and the Muslim circles. A sauve, courteous and deeply religious person, he was hugely influential in both the Muslim community and the political arena.
A very tech-savvy man, Khan, along with his family, was instrumental in making The Siasat Daily the first newspaper to have
an e-paper, way back in the late nineties. The Siasat Daily's website was also modernised under his supervision in the eary 2000s, and went from strength to strength first under him and then under his son Asghar Ali Khan.
Khan was also known for his philanthropic activities, especially for poor Muslims. As part of his family's initiatives, Khan helped several underprivileged students train in computers and spoken English in institutes that his family founded for the purpose. He was also active in reaching out to the victims of several natural calamities, and also set up a sprawling old-age home in Vikarabad.