Veteran actor Nana Patekar died at his Dona Paula residence in Goa on October 8. He was 75. Panaji Police have registered an Unnatural Death (UD) case under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and an enquiry led by PSI Nitin Naik is now under way.
What happened
Patekar was at his Ocean Park home in Dona Paula when he suffered a suspected cardiac arrest. He was taken to Manipal Hospital in Bambolim, where doctors declared him brought dead. Because he had died at home while alone, the hospital’s report triggered the police case.
The registration does not suggest that anyone is accused of wrongdoing. It is the legal mechanism for recording a death that did not occur in a hospital under a doctor’s care, and for closing the questions that any such death raises.
Why the UD case is routine
A UD case under Section 194 BNSS allows the police to establish the circumstances around a person’s death and rule out any suspicion of foul play. That is standard procedure in India when someone dies at home, particularly alone. The police have not indicated any suspicion. The enquiry, led by PSI Nitin Naik, is the process working as it should.
- Panaji Police registered the case after a report from Manipal Hospital, Bambolim.
- The procedure applies when a death occurs at home while alone.
- An enquiry led by PSI Nitin Naik is in progress.
- No suspicion of foul play has been reported.
A son’s promise
Nana Patekar was cremated with full state honours at his Donje farmhouse in Pune on Thursday night. After the last rites, his son Malhar Patekar told the media that his father’s achievements had made him immortal, and that the family would carry forward the vision he left behind.
“A person like Nana Saheb never truly leaves us; his achievements have made him immortal,” Malhar said.
He added that his father believed people should come together on a righteous path, and that the way ahead is to continue the work Nana Saheb envisioned.
The screen legacy
For Hindi cinema fans, Patekar’s death closes a chapter of singular on-screen intensity. The source notes that his film Parinda was remade in Hollywood as Broken Horses—a small indication of how far his craft travelled. Revisiting that film is one way to mark the moment, even as the formal police enquiry continues.
What will define him, plainly, is not the procedural file but the performances he left behind.
Source: Filmfare