Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Padma Shri recipient Rai dancer Ram Sahay Pandey passed away at a private hospital in his hometown Sagar in Madhya Pradesh early on Tuesday morning. He was 97.

The veteran 'Rai' folk artist breathed his last at a hospital in Sagar, the sources said. The artist from Bundelkhand popularised the Rai folk dance for 60 years, mixing it with tunes of 'Mridangam'.

Internationally acclaimed Rai folk dance artist, Ram Sahay Panday, passed away at 92 in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar district after a prolonged illness.