Death hoax alert: Dilip Prabhavalkar mistaken for Dilip Padgaonkar, who died in Pune

The rumours about the death of Dilip Prabhavalkar (Prabhawalkar) are false and his name was apparently mistaken with vateren journalist Dilip Padgaonkar, who died at a hospital in Pune on Friday.

Dilip Padgaonkar, 72, former consulting editor of the Times of India, had been unwell for some time and was admitted to a hospital in Pune after he suffered a heart attack on November 18. Later, he suffered multiple organ failure and was on dialysis after his kidneys stopped functioning. He breathed his last, while undergoing treatment at the hospital on Friday morning.

Soon after news about Dilip Padgaonkar's death hit the internet, some people mistook him to be Dilip Prabhavalkar. A few took to the social media and started posting comments, expressing shock and sorrow over his sad demise. They also paid their last tributes and offered condolences to his bereaved family.

Dayanand Nene ‏@dayanandnene tweeted last night that Dilip Prabhawalkar died. He tweeted: "दिलीप प्रभावळकर यांचे दुःखद निधन ​ Om shanti " Within minutes, the socio political activist posted another comment in which he apologised, saying that it was rumour. He wrote: "Sorry. The news about Shri Dilip Prabhawalkar was wrong - rumour and god bless, he is hale and hearty..Sorry once again.."

Paresh Rawal, the Bollywood actor-turned-politician, took to his Twitter account this morning to share his shock and sorrow on the demise of Dilip Prabhawalkar. He tweeted: "Deeply saddened n shocked by the news that a veteran of Marathi theatre n a great actor shri Dilip Prabhawalkar is no more ... AUM SHANTI."

But Paresh Rawal ‏deleted his comment on his Twitter page within minutes and apologised for his post. Meanwhile, he also wished Dilip a happy and healty life. The Bollywood comedian wrote: "Extremely sorry for mixing up the name in my last tweet n wish a healthy n a happy life to my friend Shri Dilip Prabhawalkar."

Some fans responded to Paresh Rawal's apology comment and here are few of them.

Ajay Kalra ‏@AjayKalra2010

@SirPareshRawal Sir, Dilip Padgaonkar or Dilip Prabhawalkar yeh do alag alag insaan hai.

OMNamahShivay ‏@failedengineer1

@SirPareshRawal Dilip prabhawalkar??? Or Dilip padgonkar. I think you are making some mistake

Ajit ‏@drajit_2274

@SirPareshRawal any hurry to be the first one to break news ? God bless dilip prabhawalkar

Renuka Vyavahare, a reporter from Bombay Times, confirmed that the actor is fine and requested people to post condolence messages in social media. She tweeted: "Veteran Marathi actor Dilip Prabhavalkar is fine! Just spoke to him. Stop 'forwarding' RIP messages! "

However, Dilip Prabhavalkar is a popular theatre actor, who has also acted in Marathi and Hindi film and television series. He hogged the limelight with his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the 2006 film Lage Raho Munna Bhai. He reprised the role of Gandhi in the Telugu language remake, Shankar Dada Zindabad. Apart from acting, Prabhavalkar is author of many plays and children's story books.