CHENNAI: Left parties have condoled the demise of freedom fighter and veteran CPI leader V Radhakrishnan, who passed away at the age of 102.

In a statement, R Mutharasan said that Radhakrishnan passed away at his New Century Colony residence at Ambattur on Monday.

He said that the communist leader, who hailed from Pollachi in Coimbatore, joined the freedom movement during his school days.

"He was jailed several times at Pollachi, Vellore and Coimbatore. He joined the communist movements after his friendship with senior leaders like K Baladhandayutham, CA Baalan and others. He continued to remain sincere to his ideology till his last breath," he noted.

Mutharasan recalled that Radhakrishnan, who worked as a translator in Janasakthi for several decades had trained serval journalists during the course of time.

"He was also a good translator of speeches of communist leaders like PC Joshi, Ajoy Ghosh, SA Dange, Parvathi Krishnan and Mohan Kumaramangalam," he said, adding that Radhakrishnan was survived by his daughters Geetha, Dr Shanthi and Barathi.

CPM State Secretary K Balakrishnan has condoled the demise of Radhakrishnan and expressed his party's sympathy and condolences to his daughters, family members and comrades who are bereaved of him. He said that Radhakrishnan was a good translator of communist leader stage speeches.