Tamil actor-politician Ritheesh dead

Chennai, April 13 (IANS) Actor-cum-AIADMK leader J.K. Ritheesh died of cardiac arrest on Saturday.Ritheesh, 46, is survived by his wife Jotheeswari and a son.Returning to his home in Ramanathapuram district for lunch after campaigning for BJP's Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha candidate Nainar Nagendran, he had complained of uneasiness and was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him dead.Ritheesh, who had acted in Tamil movies like "Kaanal Neer", "Nayagan", "Guru", "Pen Singam" and "LKG", was elected from the Ramanathapuram parliamentary constituency on a DMK ticket in 2009. However, he later quit the DMK and joined the AIADMK.Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam have condoled Ritheesh's death.
--IANS vj/vd