Dhaka, Nov 28 (bdnews24.com) – Mohammad Hanif, former Mayor of Dhaka, died early Tuesday morning at Apollo Hospital after a prolonged illness.
His family said the end came at 12.35am. He was 62.
His nephew Sumon said his body would be taken to his Nazirabazar house by Tuesday morning and that the first namaz-e-janaza would be held at the Nazirabazar mosque after Asr prayers.
Hospital officials told bdnews24.com at 2.00am the body was about to be taken home.
Hanif was scheduled to be flown to Bangkok on Saturday. But doctors were forced to change plans as his condition worsened.
He fell ill on Feb 8 this year when he was delivering a speech at a city rally. He was treated for long six months in Bangkok for brain haemorrhage and brought back to Dhaka Aug 25. From airport, he was driven straight to Apollo Hospital at Baridhara.
Hanif had been carrying in his body "hundreds of splinters" from the August 21 2004 blast that killed at least 22 and injured scores including Sheikh Hasina on Bangabandhu Avenue.
Doctors said the splinters were too tiny to be removed through surgical procedures. br>
The first directly elected mayor of the capital was also president of the Dhaka city chapter of the Awami League.
Elected on a five-year term in 1994, Hanif ended up serving eight years because of legal wrangling over mayoral polls.
Born in 1944, Hanif, a 1971 freedom fighter, worked as an assistant private secretary to the leader of the Liberation War, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, when the latter ran the war-ravaged country.
bdnews24.com/tik/nh/bd/ad/0217hrs
