Mumbai, April 25: Officials interrogating Praveen Mahajan said he seemed pleased about the attention he has been getting after he pulled the trigger on his brother.

“Mee dada peksha famous zhalo ka? (Have I finally become more famous than my elder brother?),” a police source quoted Praveen as asking those who interrogated him.

Praveen is now being kept at Worli police station, where he will remain till April 29.

Sources in the city crime branch said when a police officer asked him how he felt at being famous, Praveen said: “A couple of days ago, no one knew Praveen Mahajan. Earlier, everyone ran after Pramod Mahajan for his photographs, now they are running behind me.”

A local politician, who is a common friend of the Mahajan brothers, said Praveen yearned to be famous. “Once Chandu (Praveen’s nickname) told me that he wanted to be a popular leader like Pramod and was willing to do anything for it. I hope this is not the way Praveen chose to become famous,” the politician said.

However, Praveen’s lawyer Nandkumar Rajurkar said: “How am I supposed to know what he spoke in police custody? Praveen is depressed and can say anything. It would be incorrect to quote it as a statement.”

Mumbai police said the investigation would proceed only after the statements of Gopinath Munde, the Mahajans’ brother-in-law and BJP leader, Rekha Mahajan, Pramod’s wife, and Sarangi Mahajan, Praveen’s wife, are recorded.

A police officer has quoted Pramod as telling security officials time and again that if he ever faced danger to his life, it would be from his near ones.

“You die just once. If anybody ever harms me, it will be an insider,” Pramod is said to have told the officer.

Although Pramod is not among those shortlisted for state security, he was often provided an escort party. But the BJP leader, known for his short temper, would ask the security team to leave him alone.

“Whenever the police insisted that he should take along the team, he would reason that if he came to any harm ever, it would be from people close to him,” the officer said.

On Friday night, when Pramod returned from Nagpur, an escort party accompanied him from the airport to his residence in Worli. Once they reached his home, Mahajan asked the escort squad to return, a source said.

“The need to accept security has been conveyed to Mahajan in writing several times, and also to the Union government,” said another police officer.

A senior BJP leader who had recently accompanied him to Guwahati during the election campaign said: “Pramodji was offered Z-plus security cover by the Assam government after Ulfa threats. When he saw the security team, he was surprised.

“Who will attack me here in Assam? If at all there is threat to my life, it is from my own family members,’ he said. Then I thought Pramodji was joking.”