I-T raids premises of Cafe Coffee Day owner V G Siddhartha

Bengaluru, Jul 1: Veteran actor and comedian, Rajagopal, who was known for his outstanding mimicry skills in Sandalwood breathed his last on the night of July 1, that is yesterday. He was one of the favourite comedians among the audiences and is said to have been suffering from kidney and asthma problems.

He passed away at his residence in Bangalore.

The well-recognised comedian has worked in more than 600 movies in his career, along with Tamil movies. The actor was active in the film industry since 1983 and had acted with many stars like Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh, Prabhakar among others. He is also known for mimicking actress Kalpana's voice very well.

Recently, he also had claimed that new directors, new producers in the Kannada film industry had not been calling veterans to play parts in their movies and preferring fresh talent. He also had been going through a financial crisis due to the lockdown. Rajagopal has also worked in TV serials for some time in his career.  He has acted in super hit movies like, ‘Real Police’, ‘Sadakaru’, ‘Goosi Gang’, ‘Super Police’, and others as well.

The lockdown has seen the demise of many South Indian stars. Chiranjeevi Sarja too passed away last month, leaving the industry in shock. Now, a famous comedian's demise has also saddened the industry further.

Nagpur, Feb 21: Former Maharashtra chief minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Friday condemned AIMIM leader Waris Pathan's reported remarks that 15 crore Muslims are more than a match for the country's 100 crore Hindus, and asked the latter not to mistake the majority community's tolerance for weakness.

Pathan has been widely condemned for reportedly stating that "15 crore hain lekin 100 crore pe bhari hain".

He purportedly made these comments while addressing an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act rally in Kalaburagi in north Karnataka on February 16. The AIMIM leader has claimed he was quoted out of context.

Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Fadnavis demanded an apology from Pathan and asked the Uddhav Thackeray government to take action.

"We condemn the statement made by Waris Pathan and demand an apology. In case he does not apologise, the state government must take action against him," he said.

Fadnavis said Pathan should understand that minorities were safe and enjoyed full freedom in India because 100 crore Hindus live in the country.

He said no one would dare utter such a statement in a Muslim-majority nation, adding that the "Hindu community is tolerant but its tolerance should not be mistaken for weakness".

"Pathan should apologise to the nation and the Hindu community," he said.

London, May 14: Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Thursday urged the Central government to accept his offer to repay 100 per cent of his loan dues and close the case against him.

While congratulating the Centre for introducing Rs 20 lakh crore relief package to boost the economy amid the coronavirus lockdown, Mallya, lamented that his repeated attempts to pay back his dues have been ignored by the Indian government.

"Congratulations to the Government for a Covid 19 relief package. They can print as much currency as they want BUT should a small contributor like me who offers 100% payback of State-owned Bank loans be constantly ignored? Please take my money unconditionally and close," he tweeted.

Earlier this month, Mallya had sought permission to appeal against a ruling ordering his extradition to India in Britain's highest court the UK Supreme Court.

The application comes two weeks after the High Court in London - the UK's second-highest court - dismissed Mallya's appeal against a lower court ruling that he be sent to India to face charges of defrauding a consortium of Indian banks of more than Rs 9,000 crores relating to the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines in 2012.