27 Jan 2012, 1022 hrs IST

Kerala News: CHENNAI, The body of Kerala Governor M O H Farook,who died Thursday night at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, was brought to Puducherry last night and the burial will take place this evening.

He died at the Apollo Hospitals where he was undergoing treatment since last month for kidney and other ailments, his son and former Puducherry minister MOHF Shahjahan said. He was 75.

Farook, a senior Congress leader and former Puducherry chief minister and MP, is survived by son and two daughters.

Farook was born in Karaikal on September 6, 1937.

He was sworn in as the 19th governor of Kerala last September, prior to which he had occupied the gubernatorial post in Jharkhand.

Farook had served as chief minister of the Union Territory of Puducherry thrice and was a Union minister of state for civil aviation and tourism between 1991 and 1992.

He was elected to Lok Sabha for three terms from 1991 from Puducherry and had also served as Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Farook, who was appointed as Governor of Kerala in August last year, was on leave following his ill health. It was the chief minister who hoisted the national flag at the official Republic Day function in the state capital. Though he had been put on dialysis, his condition worsened and the end came at 2120 hrs.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will be going to Chennai tomorrow morning enroute to Puducherry for his burial. The state government has declared a public holiday today and seven day mourning as a mark of respect to the departed leader. Condoling his death, Congress President Sonia Gandhi described him as an embodiment of secular ideals and recalled his services to the nation and the party.