Former chief justice of India, Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud died today due to a prolonged illness at a city hospital.

He was in the majority bench that decided in favour of the Indira Gandhi Government in a landmark Habeas Corpus case during the Emergency.

Chandrachud (88), who is the country's longest-serving chief justice (from 1978 to 1985), breathed his last at the Bombay Hospital, Additional Solicitor General Rajendra Raghuvanshi said.

"We have lost a great stalwart whose contribution to the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court is enormous," said Raghuvanshi.