Former Union home minister and veteran Congress leader S B Chavan died in Mumbai on Thursday after a prolonged illness.

Chavan, 83, underwent a surgery at a city hospital for removal of a blood clot on February 20. He was on life support system for the past few days, hospital sources said.

The end came at 1555 IST, the sources said.

Chavan's body will be taken to his Sagar residence at Narayan Dabholkar Road in south Mumbai to enable people to pay their last respects to the departed soul.

Later, the body will be flown to Nanded by a defence aircraft and the cremation will take place on Friday, family sources said.