The body of Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde, who died in a road accident in Delhi, reached Mumbai on Tuesday evening.

The special plane carrying the body, accompanied by Munde's relatives and party members, landed at the domestic airport. The body was taken to `Poorna' building in Worli, Munde's residence.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, BJP MP Hema Malini and Nationalist Congress Party leaders Chhagan Bhujbal and Praful Patel visited Munde's residence to pay respects.

The body will be later kept at the state BJP office in south Mumbai to enable people pay respects to the departed leader.

It would be flown to Latur in central Maharashtra on Wednesday morning. From Latur, the body will be taken to Parali in Beed district (Munde's Lok Sabha constituency), around 70 km from Latur.

Munde family hails from Nathra village near Parali.

The funeral is expected to take place at around 4.30 pm in the premises of a sugar factory founded by Munde near Parali, party sources said.

Image: Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde's body accompanied by relatives and party members, in Mumbai Photograph: Sahil Salvi