Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; March 20, 2014)

Yesteryear villain Ranjeet was in for a rude shock when he found the body of his driver, Nagraj Gowda, floating in the swimming pool of his Juhu bungalow on Tuesday night.

“He had not been keeping well for quite some time now. Last night, my wife went to check on him but couldn’t find him in his room. We looked around the house and found him in the pool. We rushed him to the hospital but he was declared brought dead,” said Ranjeet. A case of accidental death has been registered by Juhu police.

The actor, however, isn’t sure if Nagraj, his driver of 30 years, committed suicide. “I don't know if it was an accident or he deliberately jumped into the pool. Nobody even knows when he sneaked out of the room despite the presence of his son and brother,” said Ranjeet.

He reminisced how Nagraj was just 14 years old when he started working for him. “ He was like a family member and we had been taking care of him after he started suffering from various health ailments,” he added.

The actor’s family was making arrangements to send Nagraj’s body to his hometown in Karnataka where his last rites will be performed. “It is his mother’s wish. I do not feel guilty as we did our best for him,” Ranjeet said.