Former Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj passed away on Saturday afternoon at the Woodlands Hospital in the city.

Gajraj, who served as Minister of Home Affairs from January 1999 to May 2005 under the Bharrat Jagdeo administration, died of a heart attack, relatives confirmed.

The former minister  resigned from People’s Progressive Party Cabinet after reports surfaced which linked him to the Phantom death squads led by convicted drug kingpin Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan.

Gajraj was later appointed Guyana’s High Commissioner to India by the PPP government and was also appointed High Commissioner to Bangladesh during the latter months of his term.

He then resigned from the diplomatic posts and returned to Guyana in May 2015  from New Dehli when the APNU+AFC administration assumed office.