CUMILLA, Dec 13, 2023 (BSS) - Cumilla city mayor Arfanul Haque Rifat passed away while undergoing treatment at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore at 65.

He breathed his last around 6.30 pm (BST) today, Cumilla sadar lawmaker AKM Bahauddin Bahar said.

He is survived by wife, a son and two daughters.

On Monday, Rifat went to Singapore with respiratory ailments. He had previous record of cardiac arrest and brain stroke. Besides, he was also suffering from different ailments since long.

On June 15, 2022 Cumilla city elections, Awami League (AL) candidate Rifat was elected mayor defeating his contestant Manirul Sakku, an independent candidate who was earlier suspended from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), by 343 votes.

Rifat was current general secretary of Cumilla city unit of AL.
 
Cumilla AL leaders including lawmaker Bahauddin Bahar expressed deep shock and sorrow at the death of Rifat and prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul.