Om Puri had head injury; staff quizzed

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 8

The Mumbai police have questioned two men who were employed with actor Om Puri who was found dead on Friday.

The two, the actor’s domestic help and driver, were called for questioning by the Oshiwara police after the post-mortem report conducted at Cooper Hospital said the cause of death was “unknown”, the police said. “We are still waiting for the final post-mortem report from the JJ Hospital which is examining the viscera,” Inspector Subhash Khanvilkar of the Oshiwara police station said.

The samples were being tested by the Kalina Forensic laboratory and its report was due soon, Khanvilkar added. The initial post-mortem report indicated that the actor had died of a heart attack.

Puri’s driver Ram Mishra told the police that he dropped his boss home late Thursday night from a party and was to pick him up the next morning. When he rang Puri’s door-bell on Friday morning, there was no response. With the help of neighbours, who called the police, the door was opened and Puri was found lying slumped in the kitchen. He had hit his head and there was blood on the floor, the police said.

Some half-eaten food was also found on the kitchen table. Initially, it was assumed that the actor was having dinner when he felt uneasy and got up for a glass of water. However, he collapsed and hit his head, the police said. Om Puri, who was estranged from his wife, was living alone at the time of his death.