Muthappa Rai, the founder of Jaya Karnataka not-for-profit organization and former don, has been hospitalized. Rai, who has been battling cancer for little over a year ago, is said to be in critical condition, a source close to the family told International Business Times, India.
IBTimes India learned about Rai's health condition while verifying some rumors about Rai's death, which had been making the rounds on WhatsApp groups. But the WhatsApp forwards suggesting the 68-year-old social activist is dead are fake. This is not the first time rumors about Rai's death have been made. Just last month, IBTimes India busted a similar hoax about Rai's death.
Rai battling cancer
The reformed don, who was recently questioned by the special investigating team (SIT), headed by Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Sandeep Patil in relations to builder Subbaraju murder case, was diagnosed with liver cancer a year ago. After responding to the treatment well, Rai's routine screening showed progressive cancer, which had affected his brain. Doctors gave Rai a few years to live.
Despite being stricken by terminal cancer, Muthappa Rai's will power stayed strong. He had moved to his farm house in Bidadi and continued his social service from there. Rai also prepared a legal will pertaining to his properties, in which he named his children and added that his associates who had been with him for 15-20 years be given a residential plot.
