SAHARANPUR: Former Union Minister Rasheed Masood passed away on Monday after suffering complications following his recovery from COVID-19, his nephew Imran Masood said.
He was 73.
Rasheed Masood had hit the headlines in 2013 when he became the first parliamentarian whose membership was stripped after he was sentenced to four years in jail.
His disqualification came soon after the Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers stand immediately debarred if they are convicted for offenses that carry a sentence of more than two years.
Masood was the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare with independent charge in the National Front government led by V P Singh in 1990.
He died in a Roorkee nursing home, where he had been admitted recently for the management of some post-COVID-19 complications, said Imran Masood.
Imran Masood, a former MLA, told PTI that his uncle Rasheed Masood had tested positive for the coronavirus infection some time back and had undergone treatment at a Delhi hospital.
He had recovered from the infection there and had returned to Saharanpur, said Imran Masood.
His condition, however, deteriorated again a few days ago and he was admitted to a nursing home in Roorkee where he died on Monday morning, he said.
"Deeply saddened by the sad demise of veteran Parliamentarian and my family friend Rasheed Masood from Saharanpur, UP," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.
"I pray Almighty to give strength and courage to his family members to bear this irreparable loss.
May his departed soul rest in peace," he said on Twitter.
Masood had been a five-time member of the Lok Sabha from Saharanpur.
He has also been a Rajya Sabha member representing the Samajwadi Party and the Congress on separate occasions.
He was serving as a Rajya Sabha member, representing the Congress, when the verdict was pronounced and his membership stripped.
The court had held him guilty of fraudulently nominating from the central pool undeserving candidates to MBBS seats.
In his long political career, Masood had represented several political parties including Samajwadi Party, Congress, BSP, Janata Party and Lok Dal.
Masood was the United National Progressive Alliance candidate for the Vice-President in 2007.