Om Puri’s death: All you need to know

Veteran actor Om Puri's sudden death came as a huge shock to the Bollywood film fraternity and the actor's fans. The star was found dead on January 6 at his Lokhandwala's Oakland Park residence when the doorbell went unanswered on Friday morning. Om, who was believed to be in good health and had returned from work, a day prior, was reported to have died of a fatal heart attack while alone at home. His untimely death has raised many questions as to what went wrong with the actor.

Om Puri underwent a postmortem at the Cooper Hospital before he was cremated in the presence of family and friends at the Oshiwara electric crematorium at around 6 pm. Everyone from Sashi Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Anil Kapoor, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Pankaj Kapoor, Supriya Pathak, Paresh Rawal, Ratna Pathak Shah and Govind Nihalani, among others, made it a point to pay the actor their last respects.

Om Puri's cause of death was suspected to have been due to a heart attack, but his autopsy reports hinted at a head injury instead. The notable actor had a four centimetre long and one hand a half inch deep wound on his head according to the preliminary postmortem report. Following this, the Mumbai Police registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR). This however raised doubts of a foul play. However, the police ruled out this possibility as there were no signs of a forced entry at his residence.

A day before his death, Om Puri headed to estranged wife Nandita Puri’s house as he had an urgent desire to meet his son. The actor’s sixteen-year-old son Ishan is a specially abled child and has been living with his mother since the couple separated in 2009. However, on his arrival at the house with producer friend Khalid Kidwai, he had learnt that the mother-son duo was out attending a party. According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, the actor waited for 45 minutes while drinking in his car but couldn’t meet them. So, he was in a drunken state when he returned home after a failed attempt. Reports suggest that the actor had been trying to take Ishan abroad for treatment and was in the process of buying property in the US.

Om Puri was married to actor Annu Kapoor’s sister Seema before the two separated in 1991. Annu and Seema organised a prayer meet in his memory at a Gurudwara in D.N.Nagar, Mumbai. When asked if they suspected foul play in his death, Annu Kapoor said that he didn't have the strength to doubt anyone over the actor's death. Meanwhile, his second wife Nandita also organised a separate prayer meet at the ISKCON temple which saw a number of Bollywood actors and close friends in attendance.