'Mahabharat' actor Satish Kaul dies of COVID-19-related complications
Ludhiana, Apr 10: Veteran Punjabi actor Satish Kaul, who featured in several Hindi films and shows including "Mahabharat", died on Saturday due to COVID-19 related complications. He was 74.
According to Kaul's sister Satya Devi, the actor, popular for playing the role of Lord Indra in BR Chopra's "Mahabharat'', was admitted to a city hospital after he developed fever six days ago.
"He died today morning due to COVID-19 at the hospital. He had fever and wasn't keeping well. We admitted him to the hospital on Thursday and got him tested, where it turned out that he was COVID-19 positive," Satya Devi told PTI.
Kaul is survived by his sister.
The actor worked in over 300 Punjabi and Hindi films including "Pyaar Toh Hona Hi Tha", "Aunty No 1" and the TV show "Vikram Aur Betaal".
Kaul moved to Punjab from Mumbai and started an acting school around 2011, which wasn't a success.
He fractured his hip bone in 2015 and remained bedridden for two and a half years. He later checked-in to an old age home, where he stayed till 2019, before moving in to a rented house.
In an interview with PTI in May last year, Kaul had said he was struggling for medicines, groceries and basic needs during the nationwide lockdown and had appealed to the film industry for help.
Kaul had expressed his wish to buy a house of his own in the city and had hoped to act more.
"The fire to act is still alive in me. It isn't over. I wish someone gives me a role even today, any role, and I would do it. I'm raring to act again," he said.
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41 lakh illicit liquor seized, 1.84 lakh arrested in major drive: K'taka Minister tells Assembly
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): The Karnataka Excise Department has conducted a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor trade over the last two years, resulting in arrests and seizures of alcohol, Karnataka Excise Minister R B Timmapur said on Tuesday.
As many as 1,09,017 people were arrested, and seizures included 13.66 lakh litres of liquor and 27.19 lakh litres of beer, he said in a written reply to a starred question by Harihar BJP MLA B P Harish in the Karnataka Assembly.
The Minister said the enforcement drive covered the financial year 2023–24, 2024–25 up to June, and 2025–26 from July to October, targeting unauthorised liquor manufacture, storage, sale and transportation across the State.
"During this period, statewide enforcement drives resulted in a total of 1,84,570 raids against illegal liquor sales,” Timmapur said.
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He noted that 9,179 non-bailable cases and 91,968 bailable and compoundable cases under Section 15(A) of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, were registered during the same period.
According to him, there have been no reports indicating that students have become addicted to alcohol due to illegal liquor sales.
The sale of alcohol to minors is strictly prohibited under the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965, and the department has issued periodic instructions to initiate legal action against violators, with strict enforcement and investigation measures in place, the Minister said.
Excise officials are carrying out regular road and night patrols, collecting intelligence, monitoring habitual offenders and conducting raids to identify illicit distillation units, unauthorised liquor outlets and spurious liquor manufacturing centres, he said, adding the department is also enforcing the law to prevent the production, storage, sale and transport of spurious, non-duty-paid and unauthorised liquor.
Regular patrols are being conducted on national and state highways, with suspicious vehicles being subjected to checks.
At the district level, standing committee meetings are held under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, and joint operations are carried out with the police and forest departments to curb excise-related offences.
The department is also conducting awareness programmes through Gram Sabhas and in schools and colleges to educate the public and students about the physical, mental and social health hazards associated with alcohol addiction and substance abuse, Timmapur added.
