NEW DELHI, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- India's only five-star ranked serving Air Force officer, Marshal Arjan Singh, died at a hospital in the national capital Saturday night at the age of 98.
Marshal Singh passed away at the Army Research and Referral Hospital following a cardiac arrest. He was admitted to the hospital after he suffered a suspected heart attack.
Hours before his death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited him at the hospital, along with Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
"Went to R&R Hospital to see Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, who is critically ill. I also met his family members," Modi tweeted after visiting the veteran Air Force officer.
Marshal Singh will be accorded a state funeral Monday and the national flag will fly at half mast in all government buildings in the national capital, the Indian Home Ministry said.
An icon of Indian military history, Marshal Singh was famous for his role in the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
After his retirement from the Air Force, the Indian government made him a diplomat, appointing him as ambassador to Switzerland followed by high commissioner to Kenya.
He was also briefly made the lieutanant governor of Delhi, before being reinducted into the Indian Air Force as a Marshal for life.
