India's most famous lawyer Ram Jethmalani passed away at his New Delhi residence this morning and his last rites will be held at the Lodhi road crematorium in the capital. He was 95 and only six days away from his 96th birthday. Born in Karachi in 1923 the six time Rajya Sabha member migrated to India as a refugee after partition and due to his academic brilliance procured a law degree at the very young age of 17. The rest is history as for the next seven decades he came to be in the news often as the highest paid lawyer ever in the country defending high profile celebrities and politicians including Jayalalitha, L.K. Advani, Lalu Prasad Yadav and others.

Ram Jethmalani has had a love-hate relationship with the BJP having served as a Union Minister under Atal Bihari Vajpayee he turned against him and contested against him in 2004 from Lucknow. He was also expelled from the party for five years and only recently reconciled with the party. The one time Supreme Court Bar Association President announced his retirement in 2017 and is said to have been suffering ill health for the past several months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his tribute has stated "I consider myself fortunate to have got numerous opportunities to interact with Shri Ram Jethmalani Ji. In these sad moments, my condolences to his family, friends and many admirers. He may not be here but his pioneering work will live on! Om Shanti."