Mobile thefts mark his final journey

The arrangements for Pramod Mahajan’s funeral were meticulous though the aam junta (common man) gave the police and visitors a trying time.

Nitish Bhardwaj, a former BJP MP, was spotted trying to squeeze his way through to the VIP enclosure at the crematorium in a white Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt.

RPI leader Ramdas Athawale was almost on his way out after paying his last respects to Mahajan when he had second thoughts. He came back and actually pushed his way through onlookers and jumped over a barricade to get a better view.

Comedian Javed Jaffrey preferred solitude, sitting under the shade of a distant tree. Even pickpockets had a field day, both outside and inside the crematorium.

After shoving his way through the swarm of people outside the crematorium, Deepak Randhir, head of BJP’s publicity cell in Pune, found a neat incision where his pocket once was.

Another visitor, IA Khan, was seen pleading with people about his mobile phone that went missing. However, each time the caller got a recorded message saying the number had been temporarily out of service. Evidently, the first thing the savvy thief did was to inactivate the phone the moment he laid his hands on it.

The media was in full strength. Whenever a hush fell over the crematorium, it was broken by a shout or two from the media gallery followed by a verbal spat for a vantage view. Every inch of the gallery was taken up by teeming cameramen, photographers and journalists.