‘Pravin is known for mood swings’

A close friend of Pravin Mahajan told sleuths of the Worli police station on Saturday that he always told Pravin not to carry a gun.

“I often told him that folded hands are better than a loaded gun,” the man reportedly told the police. Had Pravin taken his friend’s advice, Pramod Mahajan would have been alive today.

Pravin was described by his close acquaintances as unpredictable, short-tempered and ambitious. Arun Datar, Milind Ghokhale, Sopan Bongane and Raju (who runs the Jinja Motor Stores located below Pravin’s Jinja apartments) told Worli police that Pravin was short-tempered and a difficult person to handle when in a foul mood.

A sleuth told DNA, “One of the friends who has known Pravin since 1991 said Pravin had frequent mood swings and had suddenly stopped talking to him. This was the second time in their 15-year acquaintance that Pravin suddenly cut off  ties with him. He said he was neither surprised nor did he bother to enquire with Pravin about the reason for his behaviour.’’

“We never discussed personal or family matters with Pravin. He did not like it, and  would be annoyed with us if we talked family matters. He also bore a grouse against everything. Whimsical, he would be generally upset with anybody and everybody for no apparent reason,” a friend said.

Another friend told sleuths Pravin was very attached to Pramod and had broken down like a child when he lost his Lok Sabha elections to Gurudas Kamat in 1999.