Noida: Iconic Hindi poet Dr Kunwar Bechain, who was battling COVID-19, passed away at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida on Thursday, officials said. He was 78.
Bechain and his wife Santosh, both of whom lived in Ghaziabad, had tested positive for the coronavirus on April 12 after which they underwent treatment briefly in Delhi and were recently shifted to the Kailash Hospital in Noida.
“He was brought to Kailash Hospital following the intervention of poet Kumar Vishwas and Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma. He passed away around 12 pm today battling COVID-19,” hospital’s spokesperson V.B. Joshi said.
His wife is still undergoing treatment at a different hospital, Joshi added.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has expressed his condolences over the poet’s demise.
Bechain was popular for his range of works that included songs, dohas and ghazals.
He was born in Umri village of Moradabad district in Uttar Pradesh in 1942.
He was active as a poet from the 1960s till the first decade of the 21st century during which he participated in countless symposiums in India and abroad besides publishing dozens of poetry collections.