TEHRAN Four more heads were on the block in an arms bribery scandal engulfing the Indian government on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after a documentary was released which showed officials apparently receiving kickbacks.

Four senior Indian Defense Ministry officials -- including Major General P.S.K. Choudhary, additional director general for weapons and equipment -- were suspended pending an inquiry into the documentary made by www.tehelka.com, an Internet-based news service specializing in investigative reporting.

The documentary, released on Tuesday, has already claimed the scalp of the leader of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads an unwieldy coalition that has been in power for 17 months.

BJP President Bangaru Laxman said allegations against him were "baseless and malicious", but resigned anyway on Tuesday night after the documentary showed him apparently receiving 100,000 rupees ($2,144) to influence what was actually a fictional deal set up by Tehelka's journalists.

The news Website's clandestinely filmed video tapes, allegedly expose a web of corruption among senior politicians, defense officials and bureaucrats.

Vajpayee has called an emergency meeting of his ruling coalition's partners, but analysts said the scandal was unlikely to bring the government down.

Scenting blood, however, his political opponents sharpened their knives for attack and disrupted proceedings in both houses of Parliament.

"The P.M. Should Resign! The P.M. Should Resign! opposition deputies chanted in the Lower House, where the speaker was forced to call an adjournment until the afternoon.

"This Is a Government of Thieves. Shame! Shame!" shouted their colleagues in the Upper House, which was adjourned for the whole day.

"A debate is not enough, we want to know what action the government is going to take over the allegations," opposition Congress Party senior leader Margaret Alva told Reuters. "If they can't explain what has happened they should resign."

Several hundred Congress Youth Party activists staged a demonstration outside their headquarters in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, India's multi-party coalition government formally rejected demands for the resignation of Defense Minister George Fernandes, or any other minister, over arms bribery scandal.

The rejection followed a meeting of all members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), who voiced their confidence in the government of Atal Behari Vajpayee.

"The leaders of the NDA met today and outrightly rejected the opposition demands for the resignation of the government or defense minister," AFP quoted Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran as telling reporters after the meeting.

Maran said the meeting had also decided that the government would submit to any inquiry deemed fit by Parliament.

Defense Minister Fernandes was reported to have offered his resignation on Tuesday, but it was rejected by the cabinet.