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Saharanpur, Oct. 5 (PTI): Former Union minister and five-time Lok Sabha MP Rasheed Masood died on Monday at a Roorkee hospital where he had been admitted for the management of post-Covid complications, his nephew said. He was 73.
Masood's nephew Imran Masood 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 even recovered from the infection there and had returned to Saharanpur, said Imran, himself a former MLA in Uttar Pradesh.
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, said Imran.
Born on August 15, 1947, Masood was a B.Sc and an LLM-degree holder from the Aligarh Muslim University.
Masood was the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare with independent charge in the National Front government led by V P Singh. He was in the V P Singh government from April to November 1990.
Masood had been a five-time member of the Lok Sabha, representing Saharanpur for a total period of 17 years.
He was elected from Saharanpur on an Indian National Congress ticket in 1977, JNP in 1980 and again on an INC ticket in 1989. He was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Saharanpur on a BJP ticket in 1991 and on a BSP ticket in 2004.
He also represented Uttar Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha thrice -- first between 1986 and 1989, then between 2010 and 2012 and finally 2012 to 2013.
In October 2013, Masood became the first elected member of the Parliament to be disqualified from the Rajya Sabha following his conviction in a corruption case involving the fraudulent nomination of undeserving candidates to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool.
He was convicted in the case by a CBI court in September 2013 and sentenced to four years in jail after which the Rajya Sabha issued a notification on October 13 disqualifying him as the member of the Upper House and from contesting any election during the period of sentence and six years after that.
He was a Congress member when he was sentenced and incurred disqualification.
Masood was also a United National Progressive Alliance candidate for the vice-president in the August 2007 election and was placed third with 75 votes.