Monday, January 9, 2017

Om Puri did not die of ‘natural causes’: postmortem report

Bollywood actor Om Puri did not die of 'natural causes' as was previously thought, a preliminary postmortem report has suggested.

Although the initial cause for Puri's death was said to be a cardiac arrest, the report states that the actor had a head injury which he might have suffered as a result of falling after the heart attack. A close friend of the actor meanwhile confirmed to the police that Puri had been intoxicated before his death.

The Oshiwara police, who are probing the death of the Bollywood superstar, questioned the actor's close friend and film producer Khalid Kidwai, who told them that some hours before his death, an intoxicated Puri wanted to meet his son.

"Om Puri wanted to meet his son Ishan on Thursday evening. So we (Kidwai and Om Puri) went to Trishul building where his ex-wife Nandita lives with Ishan but were unable to meet them as both Nandita and Ishan had gone for a party. Om Puri then had an argument over the phone with Nandita and asked them to come soon as he wanted to meet his son," said Khalid Kidwai, who had been with the actor hours before his death.

According to a senior police officer at the Oshiwara police station, police had also grilled Puri's ex-wife Nandita Das.

"As Khalid Kidwai was with Om Puri since afternoon to hours before his death, we recorded his statement. We will corroborate this piece of information with Nandita's statement. Only then can we make any conclusion," said the officer.

Om Puri passed away at the age of 66 on January 6, 2017. In October last year, Puri had got entangled in a controversy for his comments on the killing of 19 Indian soldiers in the September Uri attacks; he had stated that Pakistani artists were not terrorists, causing many Indians to label him "insensitive" and leading to an FIR being filed against him.

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