Kolkata, Dec 24 (PTI) Veteran CPI(M) leader Nirupam Sen died at a city hospital on Monday morning after a prolonged illness, family sources said.

He was 72. The former commerce and industry minister of West Bengal left behind his wife, a son and a daughter.

Sen passed away at 5:10 am following a cardiac arrest, hospital sources said.

The former politburo member of the party was on life support system in the hospital after his health condition deteriorated since early weeks of December and had been critical since then.

"Sen was fighting kidney ailments. He was impaired by a cerebral attack in 2013," an official at the hospital said.

Party sources said Sen's body would be taken to his residence and then to a private mortuary.

"On Wednesday, Sen's body will be taken to the CITU office here. After that it will be taken to the party's state head quarters where people will be allowed to pay their last respect," the leader said.

His mortal remains would be consigned to flames in Burdwan, his home town, on the same day.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)