Lucknow, Feb. 12 -- Ayodhya Ram Mandir principal priest Satyendra Das who passed away on Wednesday morning was addmitted to hospital earlier this month after he suffered a brain haemorrhage,the Director of Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI), Radha Krishna Dhiman said.

Das, 85, was admitted in PGI Lucknow at around 2 am on the night of January 3 after beiing referred from Ayodhya to the PGI Lucknow. He was brought in a critical condition to the Neurology ward's High Dependency Unit (HDU) at SGPGI.

"He had a stroke and was being treated and everything was under control, but last night his condition deteriorated to the point that he needed to be placed on a ventilator. He was on a ventilator until this morning...