Goa Police have opened a medico-legal unnatural death case after veteran actor Nana Patekar died at his residence in Dona Paula on the morning of October 8. He was 75.
Police Sub-Inspector Nitin Naik is conducting the inquiry under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. Dr Shekhar Salkar, Chief of Oncology at Manipal Hospital, said Patekar was brought to the hospital and could not be revived despite 45 minutes of continuous cardiopulmonary resuscitation. “A medico-legal case has been registered, and a post-mortem will be conducted,” he said.
What the police file is and is not
The registration is a procedure, not an accusation. Because the death occurred at his residence and he was declared brought dead at the hospital, the case enters the medico-legal channel. Police will conduct an inquest, arrange a post-mortem examination at Goa Medical College, and record statements from family members and other relevant persons.
- An inquest into the death at Dona Paula
- A post-mortem examination at Goa Medical College
- Statements from family members and other relevant people
The Goa Police have underlined that an unnatural death case does not, by itself, indicate or establish a crime. The point of the inquiry is narrow: to establish the cause of death and the circumstances around it.
A public farewell in Maharashtra
Even as the legal record opened in Goa, the commemorative record moved to Maharashtra. Patekar’s last rites were performed at his farmhouse in Donje village, on the outskirts of Pune, on Thursday night. His remains arrived draped in the Tricolour, and his son Malhar Patekar performed the last rites.
The ceremony included a 21-gun salute by female police officers, and more than 1,000 people gathered to pay their final respects, according to The Indian Express. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar, Union ministers Murlidhar Mohol and Ramdas Athawale, and actor Jackie Shroff were among those present.
The state honours were a formal recognition of his contribution to Indian cinema and theatre. The funeral brought together political and film figures, with a 21-gun salute and the Tricolour framing a career remembered across both forms.
Why the distinction matters for our readers
For readers who follow Hindi cinema closely, the phrase “unnatural death” can sound more alarming than it is. A medico-legal case is the standard instrument when a prominent person dies suddenly at home. The state’s honour and the police’s inquiry are not contradictory: one records a life’s contribution, the other records the facts of its end.
The file will remain open until the post-mortem and statements are complete. Until then, the official position is deliberately neutral: a 75-year-old actor’s death is being established through procedure, while his public memory is already being marked with ceremony.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter India
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