Bollywood art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai who designed the sets of films such as "Lagaan" and "Jodhaa Akbar" and the popular TV quiz show "Kaun Banega Crorepati" was found dead on the premises of his ND Studios at Karjat in Raigad district on Wednesday morning. An autopsy report said that death was due to hanging. Raigad police in Maharashtra, who are investigating the suicide, found 11 audio clips in a voice recorder found at Desai's office.
According to a report by PTI, an official said that before going to his bungalow -- named `Salman Ki Haveli', Nitin Desai gave a voice recorder to his attendant and asked him to hand it over to his lawyer in the morning. But then he called him again and took back the recorder, the police official said. Desai then asked the attendant to collect the recorder from him in the morning as he wanted to record something in it.
The next morning the attendant found that Desai was not in his bungalow. He found the voice recorder and played it. As he heard the words "Lalbaug-chya Raja-la majha shevat-cha namaskar" (My last respect to Lalbaug-cha Raja), the attendant sensed that something was wrong, and rushed to the mega floor where he found the art director hanging from the rope.
Lalbaugcha Raja is a famous Ganesh installed in central Mumbai's Lalbaug area during the Ganesh festival. Desai designed the pandal of this very popular Ganesha Idol year after year.
Last month, Desai took to his Instagram and shared the pandal plans for Mumbai's Lalbaugcha Raja's 90th year ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. He wrote, “May the king of Lalbaug be victorious. Shri Ganesha of Lalbaugcha Raja's 12th year of pandal worship and decoration was completed today.”
Sudhir Salvi, secretary of Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal said in a statement, "It is a sad and shocking news to us. He was here on Sunday with us for almost two hours with his team monitoring the work of the Pandal. He was absolutely normal and there was no trace that something like this could happen. Desai was a Bhakt of Lalbaugcha Raja and got associated with us since 2009. Maybe a year when he was unwell he may have not designed the pandal otherwise he has been with us throughout after 2009. He always finished work on time and it was appreciated by all. It is very shocking news."
As per IANS, the funeral for Desai will be performed near the helipad in his N.D. Art World Pvt. Ltd. studios on Friday afternoon. "The body will be brought to the studio named 'Diwan-E-Aam' at noon and then kept for darshan to enable people to pay their last respects," said Motiram Thomre, who was associated with Desai for over 20 years. Around 2 p.m., it will be taken in a procession with a flower-bedecked cortege to the helipad, located around half km inside the studio premises, and then consigned to the flames as per his desire. Thomre said that Desai's wife Neha is awaiting their three children - a son and two daughters - who are expected to arrive here from the US early on Friday morning. Besides, many Bollywood personalities, several political figures, Desai's relatives and friends from Mumbai and Dapoli in Ratnagiri, and Raigad local villagers are likely to attend the funeral.
