New Delhi: 

Actor Puneeth Rajkumar died in a Bengaluru hospital today after suffering a heart attack, leaving fans and colleagues shocked and grief-stricken. He was 46. He had been taken to Vikram Hospital this morning in an “unresponsive” condition; in the afternoon, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai tweeted: “I am deeply shocked that Kannada celebrity Shri Puneeth Rajkumar died of a heart attack. The death of Kannadigar’s favourite actor, Appu, hascaused enormous loss to Kannada and Karnataka and I pray that God will have mercy on his soul and give his fans the power to endure this pain.”

ಕನ್ನಡದ ಖ್ಯಾತನಟ ಶ್ರೀ ಪುನೀತ್ ರಾಜ್ ಕುಮಾರ್ ಅವರು ಹೃದಯಾಘಾತದಿಂದ ನಿಧನರಾಗಿದ್ದು ನಾನು ತೀವ್ರ ಆಘಾತಕ್ಕೆ ಒಳಗಾಗಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ಮೆಚ್ಚಿನ ನಟ ಅಪ್ಪು ನಿಧನದಿಂದ ಕನ್ನಡ ಹಾಗೂ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕಕ್ಕೆ ಅಪಾರ ನಷ್ಟ ವಾಗಿದ್ದು, ದೇವರು ಅವರ ಆತ್ಮಕ್ಕೆ ಶಾಂತಿ ಕರುಣಿಸಿ, ಅಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಈ ನೋವನ್ನು ಸಹಿಸುವ ಶಕ್ತಿ ನೀಡಲಿಯೆಂದು ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ tweet by Basavaraj S Bommai

Visuals from outside the hospital showed crowds of fans and a police presence; there were reports of shops shutting and traffic jams in Bengaluru.

Popularly known as the Powerstar, Puneeth Rajkumar was an incredibly beloved superstar whose endeavors as a film producer too received tremendous appreciation from everyone. On the work front, Puneeth had recently wrapped up the shoot of ‘James’ with director Chethan Kumar and was to begin work on the much-awaited collaboration with Pawan Kumar on ‘Dvitva’. His most recent release is ‘Yuvarathnaa’.