"He had lung related problems and was being treated in the hospital for a month before he was brought home last week. He died in his sleep on Thursday morning," said his son today.
Subramanian, a retired Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise, had even officiated in the Asian Games, according to people who were close to him in the basketball fraternity.
He was considered a strict referee and once sent former India captain Abbas Moontasir off the court in a local tournament here in the late 1970s after a verbal altercation.
Moontasir, considered as among top players in his time in Asia, returned as a player after the ban was lifted, but Akhtar's career as a hoopster came to a close with the ban.
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