People today paid rich tributes to Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde who died in a road accident.
His friends, family and people he helped said that he was  “a great minister” and “fine human being”.
Gopinath Munde was on his way to the airport for a victory rally in his home state of Maharashtra on India’s west coast when his car collided with another vehicle. because of the accident he had an heart attack and he died later in hospital.
India’s roads are among the most dangerous in the world and Delhi one of the cities that account for the greatest number of fatalities.
The minister was sitting in the back of his Maruti SX4 when it was hit on the side by a Tata Indica, whose driver police said was in custody. Munde’s driver and a personal assistant survived.
Doctors tried to revive Munde for 50 minutes after he was taken to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in the capital, a hospital spokesman said. “There was no spontaneous breathing, no pulse, no cardiac activity”.
Television pictures of Munde’s car at a police station showed frontal damage and dents and scrapes down its left side.
Munde becomes at least the third senior Indian politician to die in a car crash in recent times.
BY VARSHA CHACHAD
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