Why Pravin killed Pramod Mahajan

Mumbai: Greed for money and injured ego were the two main reasons that prompted Pravin Mahajan to kill his elder brother and BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan, according to the chargesheet filed by police in a court last week.

The 650-page chargesheet contains the statements of Pravin and 58 witnesses, including Rekha Mahajan, wife of late Pramod Mahajan and the domestic servant who allegedly saw Pravin firing shots at his brother at the BJP leader's residence in Worli on April 22.

The chargesheet also reveals how Pravin had allegedly planned the murder and executed it with a pre-meditated mind.

Pravin has told the police that he had differences with Mahajan for the past 20 years and although the latter was helping him financially, he (Pravin) felt it was not enough.

According to Pravin, his brother did not talk to him in public and also he had no access to Mahajan and had to reach him through his (Pramod's) secretary, which he could not tolerate and felt that his brother was humiliating him.

As per Pravin's statement, on April 22 he had planned to kill his brother if family issues were not settled and with that in mind he had set out from his Thane house at 520 hrs IST in his car.

It took him nearly two hours from Thane to Worli and in between he stopped on the way to ponder over the plan to kill Pramod.

Pravin said that on reaching his brother's house he had initiated talks on family ties but Mahajan continued reading newspapers.

Then Mahajan reportedly switched on a sports channel on the TV and ignored him, Pravin stated.

Pravin stated that initially he thought of placing his revolver at his brother's feet if he was given a patient hearing but when that did not happen he took out his revolver and fired three bullets at Pramod.

But the revolver got jammed and he could not fire further shots, he stated.

Pravin also told police that he had planned the killing and made financial provision for his family by withdrawing Rs 4 lakh from his personal account in a Cooperative Bank and depositing the amount in the account of his wife Sarangi.

After he fired shots at Pramod, he went straight to Worli police and surrendered, Pravin said.

Rekha Mahajan, wife of late Pramod Mahajan, in her statement, said that she had gone to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water for Pravin when she heard the shots.

She came rushing to the drawing room and saw Pravin firing shots at Pramod.

Later Pravin left the room in a huff and she cried loudly for help.

Rekha further said Pramod's brother-in-law Gopinath Munde, who lives in the same building, came rushing for help and took bleeding Pramod to Hinduja hospital.

Pravin is now in judicial custody and the case would be heard by the Bhoiwada magistrate to the sessions court for trial in near future, police said.