Pravin Mahajan found guilty of murdering brother (Second Lead)

India News

Dec 17, 2007, 10:57 GMT

Mumbai, Dec 17 (IANS) One year and seven months after he barged into his brother's house and shot him dead at point blank range, Pravin Mahajan was Monday found guilty of killing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan. A trial court found Pravin Mahajan 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 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 verdict took nine months during which 32 witnesses were examined. The most prominent were Rekha Mahajan and Munde, Pramod Mahajan's colleague in the BJP and 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

View blog reactions

If you liked this story please support M&C and Buzz the site on Yahoo.

Latest Headlines in India

Talkback

There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)

Latest from M&C Blogs

Obama: the gloves come off in Denver - Global Eye on August 29, 2008 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Biden: good choice or admission of Obama's weakness? - Global Eye on August 25, 2008 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Are political campaigns wasting their money on undecided voters? - Global Eye on August 22, 2008 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

Upside-down House - The World in Pictures on August 4, 2008 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Church of our Lady in Dresden, Germany - The World in Pictures on August 4, 2008 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Giant Orange - The World in Pictures on July 15, 2008 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

India

Pravin Mahajan found guilty of murdering brother (Second Lead)

India News

Latest Headlines in India

Talkback

Latest from M&C Blogs

In Monsters and Critics

Corporate

The Fine Print