Former Union minister VC Shukla passes away

NEW DELHI: Former Union minister VC Shukla, who was injured in the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh on May 25, has passed away.

Shukla, who had received three gunshots and wasundergoing treatment in a Gurgaon hospital, passed away on Tuesday afternoon.

Prior to being moved to Gurgaon, Shukla had undergone an operation at a Jagdalpur hospital for removal of the bullets.

The Congress leader was airlifted to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon from Raipur on May 25, a day after the attack which eliminated almost the entire top leadership of Chhattisgarh unit of Congress.

Maoists had ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district on Saturday, killing 27 people including PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, senior Congress leaderMahendra Karma and ex-MLA Uday Mudaliyar and injuring Shukla and 36 others.

(With inputs from PTI)