Former mayor of undivided Dhaka City Corporation Sadeque Hossain Khoka passed away at a US hospital on Monday. Family sources said the BNP vice-chairman breathed his last at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, New York at 1pm Bangladesh time (BST).
BNP Chairperson's media wing member Shayrul Kabir Khan confirmed media about the death of Khoka. He has been undergoing treatment at the hospital since October 18 as infections developed in his mouth. On October 27, a tumour was removed from his trachea on Oct 27 and shifted to the ICU the following day. The former minister has been suffering from cancer for last few years. He left the country for New York on May 14, 2014 for treatment.
Khoka’s son Ishraque Hossain told media that his father wished to be buried at Jurain where his grandparents were buried. 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 first elected as an MP in 1991. Later, he contested Dhaka City Corporation election in 2002 and was elected mayor. He held the post for nearly nine years.
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