Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 26 (IANS) Kerala Governor M.O.H. Farook Thursday night died in a private hospital in Chennai at the age of 75, officials said. A seven-day state mourning has been declared in Kerala.
Farook was earlier this month granted leave to go for medical treatment to Chennai.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was on an official trip to Thrissur, cancelled his programme and would leave for Chennai Friday morning to pay his respects.
The Kerala government has declared a holiday for all state government offices and the central government offices in the state capital will also not function.
Farook, a three-time chief minister of Puducherry and also a former union minister, was sworn in as governor Sep 8 last year.
Thrice elected to the Lok Sabha from Puducherry in 1991, 1996 and 1999, he served as a minister of state for civil aviation and tourism from June 1991 to December 1992 in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government.
He had also served as the India's ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
