Kottayam (Kerala) | CPI(M) leader A V Russel, who was re-elected as the secretary of the party's Kottayam district committee last month, has died, party sources said here on Friday.

He was 63.

Russel, who was undergoing treatment for cancer, suffered a heart attack while preparing to return home after surgery at Chennai Apollo Hospital, they said.

Having joined the CPI(M) in 1981, he contested the legislative assembly election from the Changanassery seat in 2006.

From 2000 to 2005, he was a member of the district panchayat. He was also the president of the Changanassery Urban Bank.

On 4 January, he was re-elected as the Kottayam district secretary of CPI(M).

Minister for Cooperation and Registration, V N Vasavan, expressed his condolences on Russel's demise.