Karkala (Udupi district): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and noted legal luminary M.K. Vijay Kumar passed away here on Friday following a cardiac arrest. He was 82.

According to family members, Vijay Kumar suffered a heart attack at his residence in Karkala on Friday morning and was rushed to the Rotary Hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. He is survived by two sons.

Vijay Kumar was widely respected in Karnataka’s legal fraternity for his sharp advocacy and commitment to environmental and public interest causes. He was instrumental in securing a legal order that halted mining within a five-kilometre radius around the sacred Bahubali Betta in Karkala. He also played a key role in the legal battle against the US-based Cogentrix thermal power project in the late 1990s.

Over the decades, he mentored several students who went on to hold significant positions in the judiciary, including Supreme Court and High Court judges. Among them is Andhra Pradesh Governor Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, who visited Karkala on Saturday to pay his respects to his former teacher and mentor.