Parveen Babi

Mumbai, Jan. 23: In her last years, Parveen Babi shunned the industry that she was once part of. On her last journey, it was Bollywood?s turn to stay away.

Parveen Babi, who was found dead yesterday in her flat, was buried next to her mother?s grave at a cemetery in Santa Cruz tonight, witnessed by only a handful from the film fraternity.

Among those who made it were director Mahesh Bhatt and actor Kabir Bedi, both of who were in relationships with her once. Filmmaker Ashok Pandit, Mahesh Bhatt?s brother Mukesh, actors Ranjit and Emraan Hashmi were also there.

The thin Bollywood presence belied the hope expressed earlier by Pandit, who, along with Mahesh Bhatt, had offered to claim Parveen Babi?s body if there was no other claimant. ?We have sent the message to many people in the industry. We want to bid her a graceful farewell in her last journey,? Pandit had said before the funeral.

However, during the day, a trickle of relatives and wellwishers did gather around Parveen Babi?s body to give her some degree of respect that both life and death denied her.

Among the group of relatives was Farhad Sultan Babi, who thoughtfully brought documents from her hometown in Gujarat to establish that she was the actress? niece.

Police handed over the body to Farhad, who said her father was the maternal cousin of Parveen Babi, after she produced photographs and documents showing her relationship with the actress.

DCP Amitabh Gupta said some other relatives, too, arrived here today but they agreed to the body being handed over to Farhad.

Till last night, there was no claimant to the body of Parveen Babi, a screen goddess in the seventies and eighties. The police were also afraid that there could be false claimants as she has left behind a huge flat and possibly other property.

Veteran actor and Congress MP Sunil Dutt, who visited Cooper Hospital where her body was kept, also offered to claim the body.

An aspiring actress called Aneesa Babi, too, turned up at the police station with her parents, claiming she was from the same royal family of Junagadh as Parveen Babi.

The police ? afraid of a replay of the situation after Suraiya?s death when many people surfaced with claims to the actress? property ? are trying to ascertain whether Parveen Babi has left behind a will.

Her Juhu penthouse alone, with an area of 2,200 sq ft, is worth a few crores. The police have sealed the flat.

Parveen Babi?s father died when she was very young and she lost her mother three years ago. The actress was the only child of her parents.

Her post-mortem report said she died of natural causes and it mentioned that she was a diabetic, Gupta said. The report said the actress was dead for almost 36 hours before the body was found yesterday afternoon.

?The post-mortem report does not reveal anything suspicious,? senior inspector Shyam Chavan of Juhu police station said, adding that she had gangrene in her left leg.

The actress did not seem to have eaten for a long time before her death as only some liquid was found in her stomach. She may not have had any money at hand, police sources said.