“He saved my life when I suffered heart attack, I couldn’t save him”: Puneeth Rajkumar’s brother

Bengaluru: Popular Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar, son of Kannada cinema legend Rajkumar, passed away at the age of 46 following a massive heart attack on Friday.

Raghavendra Rajkumar, elder brother of Puneeth, said that his younger sibling took him to hospital when he had suffered heart attack twice earlier. “He got the pacemaker for me. He brought me back from the hospital safely. But I could not bring him back. He went to see my parents,” he said.

“Puneeth’s spouse is inconsolable and not in a position to talk. We will decide after discussion with all relatives. We have requested to make arrangements for public ‘darshan’. We all know what happened at the time of the death of our father (Kannada film legend Rajkumar) (Seven people were shot dead in the large-scale violence that followed after his death) That should not happen,” he stated.

Dr Ranganath Nayak who treated Puneeth, explained that he developed chest pain after two hours of workout at a gym. He has consulted a family doctor and undergone ECG test.

“When, ECG results showed his condition was serious he was referred to our hospital. En route to hospital he suffered a massive cardiac arrest. When he was brought to hospital, there was no cardiac activity,” he explained.

He further stated that the doctors tried to resuscitate Puneeth for three hours. “We have made all attempts to revive cardiac activity, but he could not be revived,” he said.

According to family sources, Puneeth suffered a heart attack while working out at a gym. Immediately he was shifted to Vikram Hospital. Dr Ranganath Nayak stated that his condition was critical when he was brought to the hospital. But the efforts of doctors to revive him went in vain.

Puneeth’s health worsened on Thursday evening but he did not visit a doctor. He went to the gym in the morning and developed chest pain. He was taken to a private clinic where ECG was done. During check up, his condition worsened and he was rushed to Vikram Hospital, where he succumbed to cardiac arrest.

Puneeth has donated his eyes. He is survived by wife Ashwini and daughters Vanditha and Dhruthi.

Security has been beefed up all across the state including state capital Bengaluru to manage the situation. The Kannada film industry has come to a grinding halt and all movie shows have been cancelled in the state.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant has reached the residence of Puneeth at Sadashivanagar. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Kannada actor Puneeth’s elder brother Shivarajkumar are also expected to address the media shortly.

Puneeth was born on March 17, 1975 and was fondly known as ‘Appu’. He was also a singer, television presenter and producer. He acted in more than 29 films and has also appeared in many films as a child artiste. He won the National Film Award for Best Child Artiste for his role in ‘Bettada Hoovu’. He made his debut in the Kannada film industry with the movie ‘Appu’ in 2002.

(IANS)