Pravin gets life term for Pramod Mahajan murder

A Mumbai sessions court sentenced Pravin Mahajan to life imprisonment for the murder of his elder brother and senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan at his Worli residence on April 22 last year. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 15,000 on Pravin.

While the prosecution had pushed for the maximum penalty - death, the judge rejected their plea.

The court had convicted Pravin on Monday, almost two years after he was held for shooting Pramod Mahajan. The BJP leader died at Hinduja hospital a few days later.

While convicting Pravin, Additional Sessions Judge SP Daware had rejected the defence’s theory of “accidental firing leading to accidental death” as opposed to homicidal death and held Pravin guilty of murder and criminal trespassing under Sections 302 and 449.

The court also held that Pravin's act was a "cold-blooded, pre-planned murder". It added that the motive was beyond monetary benefits.

In his deposition, Pravin had spoken of a 'scuffle' between him and Pramod, and contended that the same led to the 'accidental firing'. The court, however, observed that if it was indeed an accidental firing, blood from Pramod’s body should have splattered on Pravin. Since no blood marks were found, the theory was not tenable, the judge said.

The court also accepted Pramod's last words to his brother-in-law, Gopinath Munde - ‘What was my fault that Pravin fired bullets at me?’ - while being taken to the hospital on April 22 last year, as his dying declaration. The judge also believed in most of the prosecution evidence, including the statements of eyewitness Rekha Mahajan and their servant Mahesh Wankhede.

The court, however, disbelieved the motive that the prosecution had ascribed to the murder - greed of money. Witness Rekha Mahajan (Pramod’s wife) had first introduced the motive of 'greed of money' when she was being cross-examined almost a year after the murder. The judge decided that the motive, as proposed by the prosecution, was “an afterthought”.

A total of 35 witnesses were examined in the trial, including Pravin Mahajan's wife Sarangi and over 600 pages of depositions were recorded by the court. Pramod Mahajan's widow Rekha and their servant Mahesh Wankhede were the main witnesses in the case.

(Source: www.ibnlive.com)