In July 2007, Manjhi was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. He had gallbladder cancer.
He died there on August 17, 2007. He was 73.
The man people had once called a lunatic was given a state funeral by the government of Bihar.
The paved road came later. After Manjhi finished his passage, it took the local government about three more decades to turn it into a tarred road.