It wasn’t me, says Pravin Mahajan

MUMBAI: Despite having confessed to the Worli police to shooting Pramod Mahajan, Pravin Mahajan on Tuesday pleaded ‘not guilty’ before Sessions Judge Shrihari P Davare to the charges of murder and criminal trespass.

Immediately after the April 2006 shooting, in which Pramod Mahajan was killed, Pravin had allegedly voluntarily handed over his gun to the police. He is then said to have confessed to pumping four bullets into his brother at point-blank range at the latter’s Worli residence.

It was believed that the confessional interview was recorded on a CD. But it turned out that the CD has no audio track. “It is only a video CD,” the investigating officer told the judge. “It records the presence of persons coming into the station, or appearing before us. There is no audio recording on it.”

But prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said Pravin’s retraction was of no consequence. “We have enough material to prove the case against the accused,” Nikam said. “His denial of guilt does not affect our case unduly.”

Mukesh Modi, a defence advocate, said the case now hinges on factors other than Pravin’s confession. “The prosecution will have to prove its story beyond all reasonable doubt through witnesses and documents it brings before the court,” Modi said.

The judge has ordered the prosecution to present its list of witnesses, documents, and other material to the court on January 31.

Meanwhile, Poonam, daughter of Pramod Mahajan, said she has full faith in the judiciary. “What matters most to me is that my father, who was killed by his own brother, gets justice,” she said.

“There’s no question of witnesses backtracking from their earlier statements,” she said. “How can it happen? My mother Rekha Mahajan is the key witness who saw her brother-in-law kill her husband.” Her uncle Gopinath Munde, a BJP leader, is another. “I don’t want to get into more details as the matter is in court,” she said. 

The onus now is on prosecution

“Rarely does an accused plead guilty. Almost every accused denies his culpability before the courts, thus challenging the prosecution to prove him guilty,” said senior criminal expert and MCOCA counsel Sudhir Pasbola.

“Criminal jurisprudence puts the onus of proof on the prosecution. Every accused is merely an accused until his guilt is duly proved.”

Before the judge framed the charge, defence advocate Mukesh Modi brought to the notice of the court that the prosecution had not provided the defence with a transcript of the conversation allegedly recorded in the CD indicting Pravin.

“While the CD showed that there was some conversation among those present, we could hear nothing,” said Modi. “This is a recording made by the cameras permanently installed at certain police stations,” countered public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. “There is no arrangement to record the voice. The question of giving a transcript therefore does not arise.”

Throughout the proceedings which lasted 15 minutes, Pravin cut a sombre figure in a dark grey bush shirt and trousers. He stood silently in the witness box until addressed by the court. He pleaded “not guilty” in a rather quiet voice, but the tremor in his hand was quite visible as he signed his plea.

Pravin’s wife Sarangi was present in the court, dressed in a black silk saree. She declined to comment on the matter.