BENGALURU: Forty-six years old actor Puneet Rajkumar the youngest son of legendary matinee idol Rajkumar and  Parvathamma passed away after he suffered massive cardiac arrest en route to Vikram hospital in Bengaluru. 

The group of doctors at Vikram hospital tried their best but they could not resuscitate him and declared him dead. 

Dr. Ranganath Nayak, cardiologist at Vikram Hospitals in a statement has said that after his routine exercise, the actor complained of chest pain and was taken to his family doctor where he was diagnosed with an acute heart attack and he was immediately referred to our hospital for further management. "On arrival at our hospital, Mr.Puneeth Rajkumar was non-responsive and his heart had stopped," he added saying that after prolonged efforts by the entire team, they had to stop resuscitative as he did not respond.

Following the news of the actor’s death, several celebrities and fans took to Twitter to express their condolences. Among the first who tweeted were actor Sonu Sood, he wrote, "Heartbroken, Will always miss you my brother." 

Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah tweeted, "Deeply shocked by the demise of talented actor #PowerStar #PuneethRajkumar."

Producer Boney Kapoor Twitter, "Deeply shocked to know of the sudden demise of @PuneethRajkumar. A powerful actor who won the hearts of people with his incredible body of work. Condolences to the family #RIP #Gonetoosoon #PuneethRajkumar."

Puneeth who is fondly called Appu by his fans began his acting career as a child artist and won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his performance in the film Bettada Hoovu in 1985, latter he won the Karnataka State Award for Best Child Artist for his performances in Chalisuva Modagalu and Yeradu Nakshatragalu. He went on to work in close to 30 Kannada films

Puneeth hosted the first season of Kannada Kotyadhipati, modelled on the Hindi show Kaun Banega Crorepati, and later also hosted Colors Kannada's reality show, Family Power.