Noted astrologer Bejan Daruwalla loses battle to coronavirus at 88 in Ahmedabad

Astrologer Bejan Daruwalla, a regular columnist, was admitted to a hospital in Ahmedabad after he experienced symptoms of the novel coronavirus.

Astrologer Bejan Daruwalla passed away on Friday at a hospital in Gujarat's Ahmedabad at the age of 88 while battling the novel coronavirus. Family members claimed that he succumbed to pneumonia but records from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) show that he had tested positive for Covid-19.

Daruwalla is believed to have died as a result of fluid accumulating in his lungs. This led to breathing difficulties which led to a drastic drop in blood-oxygen level.

According to his official webstite, Bejan Daruwalla was acknowledged as one of the 100 great astrologers in the last 1,000 years in The Millennium Book of Prophecy. Apart from making some very bold and famous predictions, Bejan Daruwalla also wrote regular columns on astrology in India's leading newspapers.

"Bejan Daruwalla was an ardent follower of Lord Shri Ganesha," his official website says. Before he took to full-time astrology, Daruwalla was a professor of English in Ahmedabad. He combined the rules of I-Ching, Tarot, Vedic and Western astrology, numerology, palmistry and even the Kabalah to make predictions, says his official website.

The astrologer is survived by his wife Gooli, and sons Nastur and Chirag.

"I pray for the departed soul," Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said in a tweet on Friday.