Senior VHP leader Triloki Nath Pandey died at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Lucknow due to a prolonged illness, his son said. He was 75.
Triloki Nath's younger son Amit Pandey, a Delhi-based software engineer, said his father breathed his last around 8 pm at the hospital in Lucknow.
He was admitted there a fortnight back, he said.
His mortal remains will be brought to Ayodhya and his last rites will be performed at his ancestral village in Baliya district, Pandey said, reported news agency PTI.
On Triloki Nath's death, the secretary of the Ayodhya Mosque Trust (Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation), Athar Husain, said, "There was warmth of the culture of Ganga-Jamuna Tahzeeb in him which was the basic essence of Awadhi culture."
"I know that he used to regularly visits some Muslims in Ayodhya on Eid festival to greet them," Husain said.
Triloki Nath Pandey was affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since his student days, from where he was sent to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).
On 1 July, 1989, Devki Nandan Agrawal first lodged the Ayodhya dispute case, on behalf of Ram Lalla Virajman (the deity), in the Faizabad court.
After his death on April 8, 2002, Thakur Prasad Varma , a former professor of the Banaras Hindu University, took up the legal battle.
In 2008, Verma applied for retirement from the status of "fast friend", citing old age and ill health. Then Triloki Nath Pandey took over as the "fast friend" of the diety in 2010.
The top court in 2019 decided the case in favour of the Ram temple.
