The procedural filing under BNSS Section 194 means an inquest and post-mortem will formally establish the cause of death, even as doctors point to a cardiac arrest.
Panaji Police have registered an unnatural death case following Nana Patekar's demise on Thursday, a procedural step that will now run alongside tributes pouring in from across the industry.
According to Telugu360 and The Free Press Journal, the case has been filed under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraccha Sanhita (BNSS). An inquest and post-mortem examination are part of the process, and PSI Nitin Naik is leading the inquiry, per The Free Press Journal. It's worth being precise about what this means: registering a UD case is standard whenever someone dies outside a hospital under circumstances that haven't been medically confirmed. It isn't an accusation. It isn't a suggestion of foul play. It's the law requiring a formal record before a cause of death gets written down officially.
Patekar, 75 according to Telugu360 and reported as 76 by The Free Press Journal, was found unresponsive at his residence at Ocean Park in Dona Paula, Goa. He was rushed to Manipal Hospital in Bambolim and brought in dead, per police records cited by both outlets. Dr Shekhar Salkar of Manipal Hospital reportedly said doctors tried CPR for close to 45 minutes before giving up. Initial word pointed to a cardiac arrest, but the post-mortem will have the final say on what actually happened.
The actor was cremated with full state honours at his farmhouse in Donje village near Pune on Thursday night, with son Malhar Patekar performing the last rites. Speaking to reporters afterward, Malhar said, as quoted by The Free Press Journal, "A person like Nana Saheb never truly leaves us. His achievements have made him immortal... Regarding the future, carrying forward the vision Nana Saheb left behind is how we will shape the life ahead."
Tributes have kept coming since Thursday morning. Shah Rukh Khan posted an old photograph of the two of them on X, calling Patekar his "mentor, teacher, critic and friend." He recalled their first meeting, when a nervous, fidgeting SRK got his hand slapped away by Patekar, who told him, "hero ki tarah baal mat bana, tu actor hai." Another line Khan said he'd carry forever: "hero banne ke chakar mein actor mat khona," never lose the actor chasing the hero.
Khan's post ended with a wish for more time, more arguments, more carrom games Patekar reliably won. "You have left a void not only in cinema but in the hearts of all Indians and the world," he wrote.
For now, the paperwork takes over where the tributes leave off. Goa Police will wait on the post-mortem report before closing the file, and until that comes through, Thursday's cardiac arrest remains the likely explanation rather than the confirmed one.
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