According to employees of Divya Bhaskar, the group’s daily newspaper published from Gujarat, Agarwal suffered a heart attack immediately after his arrival at the airport in Ahmedabad. He was rushed to Apollo Hospital near the airport.

Born on 30 November 1944 in Jhansi, Agarwal came to Bhopal with his father Dwarka Prasad Agarwal and laid the foundation of Dainik Bhaskar in 1958. According to the Dainik Bhaskar website, under Agarwal’s leadership, the group succeeded in publishing 62 editions from 14 states and is the world’s fourth largest newspaper in terms of circulation.

Besides the Hindi newspaper, the group also publishes Divya Bhaskar in Gujarati, the English daily DNA, the Marathi newspaper Divya Marathi, along with running the FM Radio My FM and DB Digital.

Agarwal, who had a postgraduate degree in political science from Bhopal University, started his career at the age of 15 by printing and publishing newspapers and making notebooks.

Dainik Bhaskar was launched in 1958 in Bhopal as a small venture. When Agarwal took control of the venture from his father, he saw the potential and the vacuum Bhaskar could fill in the world of media. In 1983, he launched the Indore edition, the inaugural expansion outside of Bhopal.

In the next three decades, under the leadership of Agarwal and his three sons, Bhaskar would go on to expand to Rajasthan, Gujarat and is now sold in 14 states in four language imprints. The Bhaskar brand has since expanded into other fields, such as radio, digital and power.

The company was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 2010.