Popular television actor and winner of Bigg Boss 13 Siddharth Shukla died on Thursday, September 2, reports said. The cause of death has been identified as cardiac arrest, Mumbai’s Cooper Hospital has confirmed. The news comes as a shock to many as the 40-year-old actor had just a few days ago made an appearance on Bigg Boss OTT as a guest star. Shukla suffered a massive heart attack on Thursday morning, it is learnt. He is survived by his mother and two sisters. "He was brought dead to the hospital some time ago," the senior Cooper Hospital official told PTI.

The actor was last seen in Ekta Kapoor’s show Broken But Beautiful 3, where he essayed the role of Agastya. The actor had recently announced his film Silsila SidNaaz Ka with Shehnaaz Gill, rumoured to be his girlfriend, whom he had met during Bigg Boss 13. The pair was popularly known as 'SidNaaz'.

Siddharth had a massive fan following online, ever since he became a well-known face on Indian television. Shukla began his career in showbiz as a model and made his acting debut with a lead role in the television show Babul Ka Aangann Chootey Na. The actor became popular for his role as protagonist Shiv in the serial Balika Vadhu. The show was a runaway success and dominated TV ratings for years. The serial was dubbed in many languages, it was called Mann Vasanai in Tamil and Chinnari Pellikuthuru in Telugu. In 2016, the lead actor of the series, Pratyusha Banerjee, who played the role Anandi, died by suicide. Siddharth Shukla later appeared on shows such as Jaane Pehchaane Se... Ye Ajnabbi, and Love U Zindagi but became a household name with Balika Vadhu.

He also participated in reality shows, including Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 6, Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 7 and Bigg Boss 13. In 2014, Shukla made his Bollywood debut with the Karan Johar-produced Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania where he had a supporting role.