Late Kannada cinema legend Puneeth Rajkumar was conferred with Karnataka’s highest civilian award the ‘Karnataka Ratna’ posthumously on Tuesday, on the occasion of the 67th Kannada Rajyotsava (the state formation day). Superstar Rajinikanth and Junior NTR were chief guests at the event along with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who conferred Karnataka Ratna on Puneeth Rajkumar.

The Karnataka Ratna award consisting a full silver plaque and a 50 gram gold medal, was received by the late actor’s wife Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar, in the presence of his actor brother Shivarajkumar and other family members.

During the event, Rajinikanth got emotional as he remembered Puneeth as a “God’s child". “In Kali Yuga, Appu (Puneeth) is like Markandeya, Prahlada, Nachiketa. He’s a God’s child. That child lived among us for some time. He played with us and made us laugh. And again, that child went back to God. His aatma is with us,” Rajinikanth said.

The veteran actor also revealed why he could not be present at Puneeth’s funeral last year. Rajinikanth said that he had undergone an operation and was in the intensive care unit (ICU) when Puneeth Rajkumar died. He revealed that he wasn’t told about Puneeth’s death for three days, owing to his health condition at the time. The actor said even if he were healthy at the time, he wouldn’t have travelled to Bengaluru to see the mortal remains of Puneeth. “I would never want to lose that child’s smiling face from my memory,” he added.