I came to pick Om Puri up, but had to pick up his body: Ashoke Pandit

“I went to pick him up as we had a meeting scheduled at the American Embassy for a musical show in the US. I didn’t know I would have had to pick up his body,” said film-maker and social activist Ashoke Pandit, after veteran actor Om Puri, 66, passed away at his Oshiwara residence on Friday morning. He died of a severe myocardial infarction (heart attack), said doctors.

Pandit said that Puri was supposed to host the anticipated one-month long musical extravaganza in the US, slated to start from March 15. “The driver kept ringing his bell, but when he didn’t open, we suspected something was amiss. We broke open the door to find him lying unconscious,” Pandit said.

Puri was then taken to Cooper Hospital at Vile Parle where the doctors confirmed his death because of a heart attack. Forensic experts who conducted a post-mortem on Puri said he passed away between 5.30am and 6am. “He has sustained a minor head injury at the back of his head, because he may have hit the wall when he fell. The primary cause of death is myocardial infraction, but we have sent his blood and tissue samples to Kalina Forensic Laboratory for further investigations,” said the expert. Experts said that alcohol abuse had left Puri with swelling in his kidneys, which probably affected his heart.

Puri lived alone after his journalist wife, Nandita Puri, filed for divorce in 2013 owing to property matters and alleged domestic violence. His body, however, was handed over to Nandita, once the police confirmed that the divorce is yet to be finalised. “We had to confirm the handover of the body since there were no other immediate relatives,” said an investigating officer from Oshiwara police station.

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Film actor Om Puri passes away at 66