Praveen: Ego-driven

Mumbai, July 19: Expectations of financial help from his high-profile brother and a bruised ego at being persistently ignored by him were the key reasons why Praveen Mahajan killed brother Pramod, reveals the chargesheet filed by Mumbai police last week.

The 250-page chargesheet ? it is not 650 pages as reported earlier ? filed by Worli police on July 14 before the Bhoiwada court magistrate also reveals that Praveen had pre-meditated the attack and not fired in a fit of rage.

On April 22, Praveen reached Pramod’s Worli residence at 7.30 am and fired three rounds at him from a close range. While the BJP leader was rushed to PD Hinduja Hospital where he succumbed to injuries on May 3, Praveen took a taxi to Worli police station to surrender.

The chargesheet includes Praveen’s confessional statement recorded on April 22, hours after he turned himself in. It also has statements by 58 witnesses, including Pramod’s widow Rekha, daughter Poonam and brother-in-law Gopinath Munde, along with medical, fingerprinting and ballistic reports.

The chargesheet quotes Praveen as saying that he had decided to kill his brother on April 10 when he learnt that Pramod had denied him direct access and had asked him to contact his personal secretary and close associates instead.

Praveen had called up state BJP treasurer and a close aide of Pramod, Pratapbhai Ashar, that day. When Ashar did not return his call, he phoned him again and was told that Pramod had asked him not to take any message from his brother.

An upset Praveen then called Pramod on his cellphone, and the BJP leader confirmed that he had given such instructions. “That was when I decided to put an end to everything.”

Praveen had read in the newspapers that his brother would be in Mumbai on April 21 to inaugurate a new suburban railway station. Aware that his brother spent his weekends in the city with his family, Praveen planned to have a final showdown. He left his Thane home at 5.40 am.

Thane to Worli is a 45-minute ride, but Praveen stopped at several U-turns on the Eastern Express Highway to ponder on whether he should abandon the plan.

When he reached Pramod’s house, Praveen began to talk about financial matters, but his brother continued to read a newspaper and then switched on a sports channel on TV.

“At one point, I felt like kneeling before him and surrendering myself. But I got up, took the pistol tucked in my trousers and shot him. I saw a fire spark of the first bullet piercing him in the chest. In pain, he said, ‘Chandu’, my pet name,” Praveen says.

He also mentions that after firing three shots from his licensed revolver, he could not fire any more as the weapon had jammed.

The chargesheet says an indication that Praveen had planned the murder in advance came from his statement that he had transferred Rs 4 lakh from his bank account to that of his wife Sarangi.

Praveen, who is in Arthur Road jail, was given a copy of the chargesheet on Monday.

The chargesheet also contains Pramod’s wife Rekha’s statement narrating how she was surprised to find Praveen at the door so early in the morning. She had gone to get him a glass of water and a cup of tea when she heard the gunshots. She said she saw her brother-on-law firing at her husband in the drawing room and leaving the flat.

The chargesheet also contains Munde’s statement on how he rushed to Pramod’s 11th-floor flat and took him to Hinduja hospital. He mentions his brother-in-law asking him “what did I do to deserve this?” on the way.

Praveen, who is in Arthur Road jail, was given a copy of the chargesheet on Monday and he has applied for bail. “Yes, we have filed the bail application today. The court has posted it for hearing on July 29,” his lawyer Nandkumar Rajurkar said.