Truemors
Mumbai, December 17
Pravin Mahajan
has been found guilty of murdering his brother and BJP leader Pramod
Mahajan. Pramod, who was shot on April 22, 2006, at his home in Mumbai,
had died in a hospital 12 days later.
Pravin,
who allegedly surrendered to the police after pulling the trigger on
his brother, was found guilty of murder by a sessions court.
The
sentencing of Pravin will happen in the next few days. Judge S.P.
Davare pronounced Pravin guilty of murder and trespassing into the
house of Pramod Mahajan with the intention of committing an offence.
The
sentence came after the judge found Pravin guilty based on the
statements Pramod made to his wife, his brother-in-law and BJP leader
Gopinath Munde nd his servant Mahesh on his way to the hospital.
Special
public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said he would plead for an appropriate
sentence against Pravin based on the judgement delivered by the court.
Pravin
Mahajan later told reporters outside the court that he expected the
guilty verdict. “I am not surprised. For the past 10 days I have been
hearing the dictation of the judgement,” Pravin said.
Pravin’s
wife Sarangi appeared before his side in tears. No relatives of Pramod
were present at the court though Prakash, the eldest of the Mahajan
brothers, was present.
“We
are not in a state to give any reaction...the death of Pramod was a
very sad event for the family. Pravin should be punished for what he
has done,” Prakash said.
The case had taken a number of twists and turns before today’s verdict.
Though
Pravin had surrendered before the police shortly after committing the
crime, the defence found a number of loopholes in the prosecution’s
case. Pravin’s confession, taken by a senior police official, was not
taken under oath before a magistrate due to which it could not be taken
as evidence at the trial.
Police
investigators were also accused of tampering with Pramod’s mobile phone
after the prosecution submitted that Pravin had sent a threatening SMS
to the late BJP leader. The defence produced an expert who proved that
SMS messages present inside a mobile phone could be fabricated.
However, the court relied on forensic and circumstantial evidence to arrive at the judgement.
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