Odia cine actor Pintu Nanda’s last rites to be held at Puri Swargadwar today  

The last rites of Ollywood actor Pintu Nanda, who passed away while undergoing treatment for liver-related problems at a Hyderabad-based hospital on Wednesday night, will be performed at Swargadwar crematorium in Puri today, family sources said. 

The actor’s mortal remains were flown back to Bhubaneswar on Thursday night, turning the atmosphere at the Biju Patnaik International Airport gloomy. Actors, actresses, his fans and followers turned up in large numbers to have a last glimpse of their favourite actor. 

Thereafter, the body was taken to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar. The hospital on Friday morning witnessed a huge gathering of Ollywood actors, actresses and fans. 

“We will take his mortal remains to our house and from there we will proceed to Puri,” said Pintu’s brother Abhiram Nanda.

“Arranging money to meet the transplant cost was not so much difficult for us, but what was difficult for us was to arrange a donor. He was taken to Delhi and then to Hyderabad. His body perhaps couldn’t tolerate and he lost his battle for life,” said Akhila, an actor.  

“I had deep faith in God that nothing bad would happen to him (Pintu Nanda). But fate had something different in store for him,” said Rani Priyadarshini, an actress. 

Notably, after a 17-day-long struggle for life, Pintu, who was suffering from liver cirrhosis, finally gave in on Wednesday night. 

Initially, he was admitted to a Bhubaneswar-based private hospital. On February 7, he was flown to New Delhi and was admitted to the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS). A family member was supposed to donate liver to him. But that couldn’t be materialised due to mismatching of blood groups and other reasons. 

As per the rules, one can’t get organs from a living person. Organs can only be harvested from a dead person. So he had been shifted to Hyderabad’s Yashoda Hospital where he breathed his last while waiting for a donor. 

(Reported by Bibartan Panda, OTV)