NEW DELHI:

, the man behind the iconic '

' rum, passed away on Saturday, according to reports on social media. He was 88.

Mohan, the chairman of

Ltd, which makes and bottles 'Old Monk', among other liquors and non-alcoholic

, is said to have suffered a fatal cardiac arrest at his residence in Ghaziabad.

Launched in 1954, Old Monk was for a long time the largest selling

in the world. It was, for many years, the biggest Indian Made Foreign Liquor brand as well.

In recent years though the company has been battling rumours that it's taking its bestselling beverage off the market amid dropping sales. TOI in 2015 reported that 'Old Monk' saw a 54% decline in sales between 2010 and 2014. Mohan Meakin apparently sold only 3.9 million cases of the rum in 2014; its sales were a quarter of what they were in the 1960s.