Former minister and Nepali Congress leader Mohammad Aftab Alam passed away on Friday while undergoing treatment at Kathmandu Medical College in Sinamangal, Kathmandu. He was 63.

Dev Prasad Timilsina, a former Congress lawmaker close to Alam said that Alam had been receiving treatment in the intensive care unit and was on a ventilator when he died. “He had been critically ill for some time,” Timilsina said. “He passed away during treatment.”

Alam had been admitted to the hospital a month ago after suffering complications from high blood pressure and diabetes. His son, Dr Rajik Alam, said the former minister had earlier undergone treatment at Medanta Hospital in New Delhi about six weeks ago. “His condition had improved temporarily, but it deteriorated again after some time,” he said.

Following his release from Nakkhu Jail on May 28 after being acquitted by the Janakpur High Court in the 2008 Rautahat blast and brick kiln murder case, Alam had suffered a stroke and was admitted to Annapurna Neuro Hospital in Maitighar. After a week in intensive care, he was discharged and later taken to India for further treatment before being readmitted to Kathmandu Medical College.

Alam’s political career spanned nearly five decades. Born in Rautahat, he began his political journey with the Nepal Students’ Union in 1979, inspired by his uncle Sheikh Idris, a prominent Congress leader in the district. Over the years, Alam served as labour state minister, forest state minister, local development state minister, and later as minister for land reforms, labour, and transport management under various governments.

He was elected to Parliament four times from Rautahat Constituency-2, a Congress stronghold once shaped by Idris’s influence. In 2017, Alam reclaimed the constituency from his nephew, Mustaq Raja, who had defeated him in the second Constituent Assembly elections.

Alam had spent nearly six years in prison after being convicted by the Rautahat District Court in April 2024 for his alleged role in the 2008 Rajpur brick kiln killings.

The Janakpur High Court in May, 2025 acquitted him overturning a life sentence handed down by the district court.

The district court convicted Alam, along with his brother Mohammad Mahatab Alam and two others—Shekh Saraj and Badri Sahani of orchestrating a deadly explosion and then killing injured survivors by throwing them into a brick kiln in Rajpur of Rautahat on April 9, 2008.

Alam is survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter.