Maharashtra's ex-deputy chief minister R.R. Patil dead

Former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Raosaheb Ramrao Patil died Monday evening following a three-month battle with cancer, a party official said here. He was 57.

The National Congress Party (NCP) leader breathed his last at the Lilavati Hospital where he had been undergoing chemotherapy for the past few weeks. Patil is survived by his wife and three children.

The party's spokesperson Nawab Malik said Patil's body will be kept at the party headquarters Monday evening and later taken to his native village in Tasgaon, Sangli district in south-west Maharashtra.

Patil's last rites will be performed Tuesday noon in Tasgaon where he was born, grew up and had his political roots.