Blue tick verified status removed from late Puneeth Rajkumar’s Twitter page; fans call for page to be memorialized

Kannada cinema’s Power Star, Puneeth Rajkumar’s Twitter handle has been inactive for eight-and-a-half-months – his last tweet came moments before he passed away on October 29, 2021, and was to wish his brother Shiva Rajkumar on the release of his film, Bhajarangi 2. The eight months of inactivity, as far as Twitter was concerned, was reason enough for the verified status of the handle to be removed – a disappointing development as far as the late actor’s fans are concerned.

Ever since it came to light that Twitter has disabled the blue tick verified status on Puneeth’s handle, fans have been calling for it to be reinstated and to memorialize the late actor’s page. “@TwitterIndia please re add blue tick to late Dr. Puneeth Rajkumar's account, other late actors are having it while no posts / tweets are updated via their account, then why is this for Puneeth sir's account. Please return it,” wrote a user. Another urged fans to make #Wewantverifiedtickpunithrajkumaraccount trend and get the attention of the agency responsible for adding and removing verified status. Some netizens also requested the late actor’s wife, Ashwini Puneeth to operate the account occasionally, so as to retain its verified status.

Incidentally, a year ago, on July 15, Puneeth had tweeted in support of conferring a Padma award on veteran actor Anant Nag, in recognition of his contributions to cinema. However, that wish of the late Power Star also remains unfulfilled to date.

One of the most health-conscious actors of his generation, Puneeth succumbed to a massive cardiac arrest in the morning of October 29. The actor had attended the birthday celebrations of music man Gurukiran the previous evening, where he was joined by friends from the industry, like Ganesh, Upendra, among others. Shortly after his demise, which also coincided with the release of Shiva Rajkumar’s Bhajarangi 2, videos of the actor singing and making merry at Gurukiran’s residence went viral.