MA Mannan, the first mayor of Gazipur City Corporation and a BNP vice-chairman, died at a city hospital on Thursday. He was 72.

Mannan, also a former state minister for religious affairs, breathed his last at United Hospital at around 4:30pm, his son Monjurul Karim Rony told UNB.

The former Gazipur mayor was put on life support after had been admitted to the hospital in a critical condition on Wednesday night, said BNP chairperson’s media wing member Sayrul Kabir Khan.

He said Mannan had been suffering from various diseases, including high blood pressure and diabetes, since he was sent to jail in 2015.

On February 11, 2015, police arrested Mannan from his Baridhara residence in the capital in a case filed for allegedly hurling petrol bombs on a passenger bus in Gazipur.

He was released on bail from jail on January 6, 2017. He later became inactive politically due to his various ailments.

Manna was elected mayor in the first-ever election to Gazipur City Corporation in July, 2013.