BP Singh, creator of CID and Aahat, dies at 77 in Mumbai

BP Singh, the producer and director who created the Hindi crime drama CID and the horror anthology Aahat, died in Mumbai on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, after a massive heart attack. He was 77. Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit announced the death on social media, and actors from CID, including Shivaji Satam and Dayanand Shetty, paid tribute to the man they called their mentor. Family sources said the last rites would be held in Mumbai on Wednesday, 28 October.

For a generation of Indian television viewers, CID was the crime show. Built around a team of investigators led by ACP Pradyuman, played by Shivaji Satam, it ran for two decades in its first run alone and became one of the longest-running series on Indian television. Its catchphrases and characters, especially Inspector Daya, played by Dayanand Shetty, passed into everyday conversation and later into social media memes, introducing the show to viewers who were not born when it began.

Singh's other major show, Aahat, did something similar for horror. Its standalone stories of ghosts and the supernatural became late-night viewing in many homes and ran on and off for about twenty years. Between them, the two series showed that procedural crime and horror formats could hold a mass Indian audience for years, at a time when family dramas dominated prime time.

His death also closes a chapter for the actors who worked with him for decades. Shivaji Satam described Singh as the mentor who taught him how to act for the camera after his years in theatre, and said in his tribute that the biggest chapter of his life was over. He recalled Singh shooting a chase sequence only three months after heart surgery. Dayanand Shetty said Singh "had no other life, other than making content", describing a filmmaker who stayed committed to his work even while unwell.

The tributes came from across the industry, with Ashoke Pandit and actor Amit Behl, who appeared in both CID and Aahat, among those who paid their respects.

Short-term: Colleagues, cast members and fans are paying tribute, and clips and memes from CID are being widely shared online. The family has said the last rites will take place in Mumbai on 28 October.

Long-term: Singh's shows remain available to new audiences through reruns and streaming, and the formats he popularised continue to shape Indian crime and horror television. His death also raises questions about who will carry the CID brand forward after its 2024 to 2025 revival.

Who is affected: The cast and crew of CID and Aahat, who worked with him for many years; Indian television viewers who grew up with the shows; and the wider television industry that drew on his formats.

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