THE AFTERMATH: Gulshan Kumar's Super Cassettes recording studio wears a desolate look as the film industry observed a halt on all film-related work on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI, August 13: The Rajya Sabha saw heated exchanges between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena members during zero hour after Gurudas Dasgupta (Communist Party of India) raised the issue of the brutal killing of film world personality, Gulshan Kumar.

The episode rocked the Upper House even as the body of the music baron, who fell to assailants bullet in Mumbai, was today consigned to flames at Nigambodh ghat here on the banks of river Yamuna amidst chanting of vedic hymns. Over 10,000 people, most of them employees of Gulshan Kumar's flag ship company Super Cassette Industries and his other companies, gathered at the occasion chanting ``jai mata di'' and ``Gulshan Kumar amar rahen''.

Besides Kumar's family members, BJP leader Shatrugan Sinha, playback singers Anuradha Paudwal, Sonu Nigam and Narendra Chanchal and Youth Congress leader Maninderjit Singh Bitta were present at the funeral.

Meanwhile, the non-BJP, Shiv Sena MPs in Rajya Sabha lost no time in attacking the ruling coalition in Maharashtra. Gurudas Dasgupta wanted to know why the Mumbai police were unable to put an end to gangland killings and suggested that there was collusion on the part of the administration and a serious lapse in the political leadership of Maharashtra.

KR Malkani of the BJP said there was an air of lawlessness in the country and the law and order situation had deteriorated ever since the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act had been allowed to lapse. However, at this point, John Fernandes who was in the Chair asked Malkani to stick to the original submission made by Dasgupta and not bring up the wider issue of TADA. Although Malkani insisted that the issue of withdrawal of TADA and the killing of Gulshan Kumar were linked, the Chair refused him permission to speak except in association. Leader of the CPI in the House J Chittaranjan said it was believed that a parallel government was being run in Mumbai by mafia gangs and suggested that investigation into the murder should be conducted with this background in mind. Tempers in the House rose after Naresh Yadav of the Janata Dal said a Shiv Sena government could not protect even an ardent devotee of Shiva like Gulshan Kumar. Members from the BJP and Shiv Sena were immediately on their feet shouting that matters of religion should not be brought into the discussion and Fernandes then appealed once again to speakers to limit themselves to associating over the original issue and not dilute it.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.