Lucknow: Former UP minister and senior BJP OBC wing functionary Nanakdeen Bhurji died after falling from the seventh floor of the New MLA Residence (Darul Safa) in Lucknow on Tuesday afternoon. He was 68.Bhurji is survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter.The administrative officer of the building informed the local police outpost about the incident around 2pm. Police personnel reached the spot and shifted the critically injured Bhurji to the Civil Hospital where doctors declared him dead.Police said Bhurji, a resident of Khadra in Lucknow, had been battling depression and was often spotted near the MLA residence complex in recent months.Police are probing whether the incident was a suicide or an accidental fall. Police are examining CCTV footage, forensic evidence and eyewitness statements to reconstruct the events leading to his fall.“We are investigating all angles. The postmortem report, CCTV footage and other evidence will help establish the sequence of events,” a police officer said.State BJP OBC Morcha president Prakash Pal said, “We are deeply shocked. We still do not know under what circumstances the incident occurred,” Pal said.BOXA veteran OBC leaderBorn on July 1, 1958, Bhurji was an alumnus of Lucknow University. He remained active in backward class politics for over three decades and emerged as a prominent voice for the Bhurji community. He was nominated as a member of the Lucknow Development Authority in 2004. In Dec 2006, during the BSP govt, he was accorded the rank of minister of state and appointed adviser to the backward class welfare department. In recent years, Bhurji served as the state general secretary of the BJP OBC Morcha and also headed the Hindustan Pichhda Morcha as its national president.
