Celebrated Indian poet and litterateur Munawwar Rana passed away at Lucknow on Sunday night. He was 71.
Rana had been undergoing treatment for throat cancer at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences.
"He was hospitalised for 14 to 15 days due to illness. He was first admitted to Medanta in Lucknow and then to SGPGI where he breathed his last around 11 pm Saturday," Mr. Munawwar Rana's son Tabrez Rana told PTI.
Born in 1952 in Rae Bareli, Mr. Munawwar Rana was honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award for his poem 'Shahadaba' in 2014 and the Mati Ratan Award for his contribution to Urdu Literature in 2012.
His funeral rites are being performed on Monday, according to Indian media outlets.
The poet is survived by his wife, four daughters, and a son.
