m. g. Ramachandran: The powerful man of AIADMK, Ramanathapuram, JK Ritheesh, deceased

Chennai, April 13 (PTI) The AIADMK leader and Tamil film actor JK Ritheesh died Saturday as a result of a sudden cardiac arrest while he was engaged in election-related activities, announced the party.

Former Ramanathapuram deputy, Lok Sabha, 46, died of a heart attack while traveling to a polling job in Ramanathapuram district. had been taken to the hospital, announced AIADMK.

Ritheesh, aka Shivakumkar, deputy secretary of the youth wing of the AIADMK MGR, joined the party in the presence of the late J Jayalalithaa in 2014.

Former militant of the DMK leader expelled Mr. K Alagiri, the politician had also played in some Telugu and Tamil films, including "Nayagan".

It was last seen in the movie "LKG", recently released by R J Balaji.

Ritheesh was elected to the fifteenth Lok Sabha (2009) of Ramanathapuram constituency and was among the well-known leaders of AIADMK in Ramanathapuram district in the south of the country.

The main leaders of the party, O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami, said in a statement that they were deeply distressed to learn of his disappearance and offered their condolences to the bereaved family.

They praise Ritheesh for his work with the party, with loyalty to the party's high command.

DMK leader MK Stalin expressed his astonishment and sorrow at the sudden death of his former party colleague.

He stated that even though Ritheesh had joined AIADMK, he had maintained his friendly ties with the party.