Watch: Fans throng to pay respects to Puneeth Rajkumar

By Praveen Kumar | NT

All roads now lead to Kanteerava Stadium, where actor Puneet Rajkumar’s mortal remains have been kept for the public to pay their last respects. The actor died of a massive cardiac arrest on Friday.

The whole area is witnessing chaotic scenes with fans thronging the stadium and the police finding it extremely difficult to control the situation. They have come from almost all districts of Karnataka and some even from neighbouring states, including Andhra Pradesh.

Traffic has also been thrown out of gear. Vehicular movement on parts of Kasturba Road, Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road and Vittal Mallya Hospital Road was badly hit. The cavalcades of ministers, politicians, film stars and other prominent personalities visiting the stadium to pay their homage added to the chaos.

Pedestrians also had a tough time as the footpaths were swamped with crowds. The police personnel, including those from the city police, Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and other central paramilitary forces, had a tough time controlling the crowd. The fans who gathered were mostly youth and were shouting slogans.

Vehicles were parked in a haphazard manner on the roads leading to the stadium and inside Cubbon Park. Almost all the fans seemed to be in no mood to leave the place until they had a last glimpse of their hero.

Even Chief Minister S.R. Bommai has admitted that the situation is challenging and hence the funeral has been postponed to Sunday from Saturday evening. Due to the surging crowds, the government felt it would be extremely difficult to take the body from the stadium to Kanteerava Studio, where the mortal remains of his parents, Dr Rajkumar and Parvathamma Rajkumar were laid to rest.

“The decision to postpone the last rites has been taken in consultation with his brothers, other family members and senior police officials. The state government has decided to accord full state honours to the deceased actor,” the chief minister told media near the Kanteerava stadium.

The chief minister further appealed to the fans to cooperate with the police personnel and peacefully pay their respects to their favourite actor.

Police deployment:

In order to avert any untoward incident during Sunday's funeral, state home minister Araga Jnanendra said that 20,000 police personnel would be deployed across the city apart from 1,500 police personnel drawn from other districts. Two platoons of para-military force and 50 platoons of KSRP will be deployed at various points as a precautionary measure.

A sea of #PowerStar fans pour into Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru to get a last glimpse of their favourite #kannadaSuperstar @PuneethRajkumar who died of a massive heart attack on Friday afternoon.

Fans pays tributes to #PuneethRajkumar at Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore pic.twitter.com/iMaw84HFHx

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