Mumbai (PTI): Veteran actor Rio Kapadia, best known for films such as "Dil Chahta Hai", "Chak De! India", and "Happy New Year", passed away after a battle with cancer this afternoon, his friend Faisal Malik said. He was 66.

"He passed away in the afternoon at around 12:30 pm. He was suffering from cancer," Malik told PTI.

Kapadia largely played supporting roles in films and TV shows such as "Khuda Haafiz", "The Big Bull", "Agent Vinod", "Kutumb" and "Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke", among others. He was most recently seen in season two of "Made in Heaven", in which he played the father of Mrunal Thakur's character in the second episode.

The last rites of the actor will be held tomorrow at a crematorium in Goregaon, suburban Mumbai.

Kapadia is survived by his wife and two children.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.

Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.

He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.

Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.

He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.

Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.

He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.