Fans throng Rajkumar’s memorial on death anniversary

Thousands of fans poured into the Kanteerava Studio premises in Bangalore to pay homage to Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar’s memorial on his first death anniversary yesterday.

Rajkumar’s wife and sons – Shivarajkumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar and Puneet – and other family members visited the memorial and offered floral tributes, besides lighting lamps as part of a religious ritual.

Fans had started thronging the venue since early morning as police made elaborate security arrangements. A large number of people from the Kannada film industry too visited Kanteerava Studios.

With the memories of large scale violence in Bangalore after Rajkumar’s death still haunting the police, massive security arrangements were in place all over the City, particularly in the northern and western parts.

More than 10,000 policemen fanned across sensitive areas of Bangalore yesterday to monitor any untoward incidents. The Bangalore police had directed theatres against screening Tamil movies as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, fans organized processions, eye-donation and blood-donation camps at the memorial site. Lunch was also served to about 5,000 people at Rajkumar’s residence in Sadashivanagar in Bangalore.

Rajkumar’s family announced the construction of a hospital in memory of the veteran Kannada actor. Rajkumar’s son Shivarajkumar told reporters that hospital will soon be built in memory of their father and a Trust would be established in his name to carry out social service projects.