Mumbai court finds Pravin Mahajan guilty of murder (Third Lead)

Dec 17, 2007, 12:17 GMT

Mumbai, Dec 17 (IANS) A Mumbai trial court Monday found Pravin Mahajan guilty of killing his elder brother, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, in April last year.

Pravin Mahajan was declared guilty of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and of criminal trespass under Section 449. The quantum of sentence is likely to be pronounced Tuesday.

Pravin was stunned and speechless as Sessions Judge S.P. Davare read out the brief three-page operative part of his judgement at the opening of the day's proceedings. Section 302 can attract the death sentence.

His wife Sarangi, who was watching the proceedings in the public gallery, started crying loudly. Family members and friends attempted to console her.

Pramod Mahajan's widow Rekha and children Poonam and Rahul were not present when the verdict was read out.

Davare read out the ruling in English and Marathi since all Maharashtra courts are required to deliver judgements in the local language.

Pravin had gone to Pramod's residence in Purna Building, Worli, around 7.45 a.m. April 22, 2006. After a brief argument, he pumped three bullets into Pramod's abdomen. A fourth bullet got wedged in the revolver, which malfunctioned.

Around 8.30 a.m., Pravin hailed a cab and went to the Worli Police Station where he surrendered.

A hysterical Rekha found her husband lying in a pool of blood and started screaming for help. Before collapsing, Pramod had managed to call his brother-in-law Gopinath Munde, in the same high-rise. He came and rushed him to the Lilavati Hospital.

After fighting 11 days for his life, Pramod died May 3.

The trial took nine months during which 32 witnesses were examined. The most prominent were Rekha Mahajan and Munde, Pramod Mahajan's colleague in the BJP apart from being his brother-in-law.

A computer expert, B. Harikrishnan, was also brought in from Pune to prove how SMS messages can be manipulated and tampered with - in the context of alleged threatening messages sent by Pravin to his brother before the murder.

Analysing the case and the ruling, eminent criminal lawyer Majeed Memon said the evidence against Pravin appeared to be overwhelming.

'This is notwithstanding the fact that the police had not picked up chance fingerprints at the scene of the crime, had not legally recorded the confession of the offender soon after the commission of the crime - and messing up of SMS evidence,' Memon told IANS.

'It was indeed a very difficult task for the defence to rescue Pravin from the grave charge of murdering his elder brother,' Memon added.

'The fact that Pramod died an unnatural death, Pravin's subsequent surrender and the fact that the unnatural death was on account of multiple bullet injuries were undisputed. Similarly, the presence of the accused when bullets were fired was also not in dispute,' he explained.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service