Gulshan Kumar murder case convict serving life term dies of heart attack

A 60-year-old convict in the music mogul Gulshan Kumar murder case lodged in Harsul prison in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has died of a heart attack, an official said on Saturday.

Mohammed Rauf Dawood Merchant, a resident of Amrut Nagar in Mumbra in neighbouring Thane district, was serving a life sentence at Harsul prison, some 350 kilometres from here, since 2002 after his conviction in the sensational case, he said.  "On the morning of January 8, while offering namaz inside the prison barracks, Merchant had severe chest pain and fell unconscious. He was rushed to a government hospital where he died. The post mortem report put the cause of death as severe heart attack. His kin in Mumbra took possession of his body the same evening and performed the last rites," he informed.  An accidental death case has been registered at Harsul police station, the official added. Gulshan Kumar, a cassette baron and among Bollywood's most prominent producers, was shot dead outside a temple in Andheri in the western part of Mumbai by three persons on August 12, 1997.  Sixteen rounds were fired, which also resulted in grievous injuries to Kumar's driver.