Former mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation and veteran freedom fighter Sadeque Hossain Khoka, also BNP vice chairman, died at a New York hospital on Monday while undergoing treatment for cancer.
He was 67.
Khoka breath his last at 2:50am (NY time) after his long battle with cancer.
He went to the US in May 2014 for treatment and was staying at the Queens area.
He was admitted to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan for the last time on October 18 after infections developed in his mouth. On October 27, a tumour was removed from his trachea.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvy told journalists Khoka breathed his last on Monday. His son Ishraque Hossain confirmed the matter over phone.
Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday said that they are expecting that the government will not create any barrier to bringing back his body to Dhaka.
Khoka's son Ishraque told journalists that his father wished to be buried at Jurain where his grandparents were buried.
Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Monday said the government is providing all necessary support to bring back home the body of Sadeque Hossain Khoka from the US.
While talking to reporters at the Secretariat, the Minister also expressed deep shock at the demise of Khoka, former mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation and BNP vice-chairman.
The government has said the country's Mission in New York is ready to issue 'travel permit' if the family of the former DCC mayor applies for it.
"Our Mission (in New York) will take necessary steps if Sadeque Hossain Khoka's family applies for travel permit," State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam said in a message shared on his Facebook wall on Sunday.
Khoka, who also served as a fisheries and livestock minister, and his wife went to the USA with travel visa for cancer treatment. Before being elected as a parliament member, he was also elected as a ward councillor of the DCC.
The freedom fighter stepped into politics through Moulana Bhasani's National Awami Party. Later, he joined the BNP, and was made the party's Dhaka city unit president.
Khoka was elected as an MP in 1991. Later, he contested DCC elections in 2002 and was elected mayor. He held the post for nearly nine years.
Khoka, also a valiant freedom fighter, breathed his last at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York around 1:50pm (BST), said BNP chairperson's media wing member Sayrul Kabir Khan.
On his Facebook page, Khoka's son Ishraque Hossain said, "On 4th November 2019, my father former Mayor of Dhaka Sadeque Hossain Khoka passed away at New York time 2:50am and Bangladesh time 1:50 pm in New York City. I will announce further information on behalf of my family."
Quoting Ishraque, Sayrul said the family members of the ex-mayor has decided to bring his body back home, and bury him at Jurain Graveyard beside the graves of his parents as per his last wishes.
He said Ishraque has already contacted Bangladesh Mission in New York to issue travel permit to bring his father's body to the country.
Once the travel permit is issued, Sayrul said, the family members will fix the time and date for taking the BNP leader's mortal remains back home.
"Initially, his condition was stable, but it continued to worsen since Tuesday last," Ishraque told a news agency in Dhaka on Saturday.
He also said, "Doctors stopped giving my father treatment for cancer a few days back as he was not responding to it."
He along with his wife went to the USA in 2014 for treatment where the validity of their passports expired in 2017.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday urged the government to take necessary steps so their party leader and freedom fighter Sadeque Hossain Khoka can return home from the US as he wished to be buried in the country.
Meanwhile, BNP acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir expressed deep shock at his death.
Bikalpa Dhara President Dr AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain and General Secretary Reza Kibria condoled his demise.
Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader, Krishak Sramik Janata League President Abdul Quader Siddique also expressed profound shock at Khoka's death.
Khoka was convicted in two graft cases in 2015 and 2018 in absentia.
On October 20 in 2015, a Dhaka court sentenced him to 13 years' imprisonment in a case for amassing wealth worth about Tk 10.52 crore illegally and concealing information about it.
On April 2 in 2008, Assistant Director of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Shamsul Alam filed the graft case for accumulating illegal wealth against Khoka and his family members with Ramna Police Station.
On November 28 in 2018, another court sentenced Khoka and three other people to 10 years imprisonment in a case filed for alleged corruption in leasing out a multi-storey car parking lot in the city's Banani area.
On February 15 in 2012, ACC assistant director M Mahbubul Alam filed the case with Shahbagh Police Station on charge of misappropriating Tk 30.82 lakh from the car parking project.
Born in May 12, 1952 in Dhaka, Khoka was a guerilla freedom fighter during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.
