Veteran Yakshagana artiste Bottikere Purushotham Poonja passes away
Mangaluru (PTI): Veteran Yakshagana artiste Bottikere Purushotham Poonja, who worked as 'Bhagavath' for 45 years in several Melas, died late Saturday night, family sources said.
Poonja was 68. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Poonja, who had been ailing for some time, was undergoing treatment at a hospital.
He had served the first Mela of Kateel as chief Bhagavath. Poonja worked as chief Bhagavath for 45 years in Uppala Mela, Geetambika Mela of Mumbai, Puttur Mela, Karnataka Mela and served in Kateel Mela for the past 30 years.
Poonja has written 32 'prasangas' in Kannada and Tulu languages. His prasangas Ma Nishada, Ubhayakula Billoja, Nalinakshi Nandini, Megha Mayuri and Swarnanupura, are very popular in the Yakshagana field.
He has received several honours including Muddana award, Yaksha Manasa award of Mumbai, Academy book literature award, Asranna award and Karnoor award.
Poonja had converted his home into Gurukula and used to teach hundreds of students about Bhagavathike and Yakshagana literature.
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Lokayukta raids four Karnataka govt officials, finds disproportionate assets worth over Rs 26.66 cr
Bengaluru, Nov 21: Karnataka Lokayukta Police on Thursday conducted search operations across the state in connection with complaints regarding disproportionate asset cases registered against four government officers, and it was found that they had acquired disproportionate assets worth over Rs 26.66 crore.
Simultaneously, searches were conducted at the residences, offices and houses of the relatives of the accused government officers at more than 22 places.
The search pertains to cases registered at Lokayukta Police Stations of Bengaluru, Mandya, and Chikkaballapura, an official release said.
The officials are Krishnaveni M C, a Senior Geologist, Mines and Geology Department; Mahesh, Managing Director of Kaveri Neeravari Nigama's Surface Water Data Center; N K Thippeswamy, Director of Town and Country Planning; and Mohan K, Excise Superintendent at the office of the Joint Commissioner of Excise.
Lokayukta officials have documents, assets and valuables, including gold ornaments and cash.
According to Lokayukta, while Krishnaveni M C has acquired disproportionate assets to the tune of over Rs 11.93 crore, Mahesh has acquired over Rs 6.89 crore.
Mohan had acquired disproportionate assets worth over Rs 4.37 crore and it was Rs 3.46 crore in the case of Thippeswamy, they said.
