Goa Police registers ‘unnatural death’ case in Nana Patekar's death, to begin investigation

The Panaji Police has registered an Unnatural Death (UD) case under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) following the death of veteran actor Nana Patekar . The 75-year-old actor died at his residence in Goa on Thursday morning after a cardiac arrest.

According to the police record, the National Award-winning actor was brought dead to the casualty ward of Manipal Hospital, Bambolim, from his residence at Ocean Park, Dona Paula. ANI reported that further enquiry into the matter is currently in progress, led by PSI Nitin Naik.

The filing of a police case in Nana's death is a routine matter, as he died at his home alone and was brought dead to the hospital. The police register an unnatural death case in such matters to rule out any foul play. In this instance, it was done after the hospital filed a report with the police.

Dr Shekhar Salkar, Chief of the Oncology Department at Manipal Hospital, had told ANI on Thursday, “They shifted him to our hospital at around 4:20 or 4:30 am. We also tried our best, but he was brought dead. Then we had to file a police case because there's an MLC (medico-legal case).”

Nana Patekar was cremated with full state honours at his Donje farmhouse in Pune on Thursday night. His body was flown in from Goa on Thursday evening. Thousands of fans turned up at the farmhouse to pay their final respects to the late actor.

After performing the last rites, Nana Patekar's son Malhar Patekar spoke to the media and said, “A person like Nana Saheb never truly leaves us; his achievements have made him immortal. Secondly, he always believed that everyone should come together and follow a righteous path on a global scale. Thirdly, regarding the future--carrying forward the vision Nana Saheb left behind is how we will shape the life ahead.”

The funeral was attended by several political bigwigs and actors. However, many from Bollywood could not attend as the last rites were performed very late into the night on Thursday. Explaining the decision, Malhar Patekar told reporters, “We were in Goa, and his mortal remains were to be brought to the farmhouse in the village. We expected it to arrive earlier, but it took us some time. We proceeded (with the last rites today) because the tragedy occurred early this morning, so a significant amount of time had already passed. That is why we decided to go ahead with it today.”

Nana, 75, is survived by his wife, Neelkanthi Patekar and son, Malhar.

Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism.