Former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson, who was wanted in connection with the December 1984 Bhopal gas leak case, is reported to have passed away in a nursing home in Florida.
The 92-year-old led Union Carbide when thousands were killed in a gas leak at its plant in India, which led to multiple calls for his extradition to India to face prosecution for his role.
Anderson was arrested following the incident and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, grievous assault and killing and poisoning human beings and animals. He was subsequently released on bail under controversial circumstances.
More than 3,500 people died and several others were maimed for life after MIC gas leaked out of a pesticide plant in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.
Officials have confirmed that at least 15,000 people have died from cancer and other ailments related to the toxic gas leak.
However, activists have put the toll at 33,000 and claimed that toxins from thousands of tonnes of chemicals lying in and around the site have seeped into the ground and contaminated the water sources.
Union Carbide in 1984 accepted moral responsibility for the tragedy and established a 100 million dollar charitable trust fund to build a hospital for the victims.