Dubai: An Indian-origin stand-up comedian died on stage due to high level of anxiety while performing his act in front of a packed audience here, according to a media report.

Manjunath Naidu, 36, suffered a cardiac arrest while performing his routine on stage on Friday.

He complained of high level of anxiety, sat down on the bench next to him and collapsed onto the floor, with audience thinking that it must be a part of the show, Khaleej Times reported.

Naidu was born in Abu Dhabi but later shifted base to Dubai.

"He was the last act in the line-up. He went on stage and was making people laugh with his stories. He was talking about his father and family. And then he got into a story of how he suffers from anxiety. And a minute into the story he collapsed," Miqdaad Dohadwala, his friend and fellow comedian, was quoted as saying in the report.

People thought it was part of the act. They took it as a joke as he was talking about anxiety and then collapsed, he said. 

Dohadwala said that the paramedics could not revive him. "His parents passed away and he has a brother but no relatives here. All in the arts and comedy circle are his family," he added.

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Bengaluru, Apr 27: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday said the Congress will stage a demonstration on April 28 here against the 'paltry' drought relief given by the Centre to the state.

Shivakumar, who is also Congress state president, said against the demand for Rs 18,172 crore to mitigate drought in the state, the Centre has sanctioned only Rs 3,454 crore.

The union government has announced a very paltry sum of relief, which will be grossly insufficient to provide drought relief to farmers, he told mediapersons here.

ALSO READ: Centre drought relief like feeding elephant halfpenny-worth buttermilk, DKShi’s jibe at union govt

"In this regard, we have decided to stage a protest near the Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha. We will also continue our legal battle for more drought relief. We are not seeking alms, this is our right," he noted.

Shivakumar said Karnataka had only sought 50 per cent of the estimated loss of Rs 35,000 crore, but the Centre has agreed to release only a fraction of that.

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