Pravin Mahajan’s body cremated; most family members keep away

Pravin Mahajan was convicted of killing his brother Pramod Mahajan

Thane (Maharashtra): The body of Pravin Mahajan, 50, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his elder brother and high-profile leader of the of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) Pramod Mahajan, was cremated on March 4, 2010. Only a few friends and some immediate family members attended the funeral.

Pravin Mahajan had died at a hospital in Thane after a prolonged illness. He was in a coma for about 3 months, after he was admitted to hospital in December 2009 after a suspected brain haemorrhage.

His brother Prakash Mahajan attended the funeral. However, members of the extended Mahajan family and the family of BJP leader Gopinath Munde, who is married to Pravin’s sister, stayed away. Pravin’s mother, too, did not attend the cremation.

Political leaders from parties other than the BJP, except Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Ram Kadam, also were absent at the funeral.

A few personal friends of Pravin Mahajan, his wife Sarangi and some of her relatives watched as Pravin’s son Kapil lit the funeral pyre at the Muktidham Crematorium in Thane.

Prakash Mahajan had told reporters earlier that the Mahajan family would bear all the medical expenses for Pravin’s 82-day stay in the intensive care unit of the Jupiter Hospital in Thane.

It was in 2007 that Pravin Mahajan was sentenced to imprisonment for life for murdering his elder brother Pramod Mahajan, who was one of the most flamboyant and charismatic political leaders in the country.

In a dramatic incident that shocked the country, Pravin had shot Pramod on April 22, 2006, at the latter’s home in Mumbai. Pramod Mahajan succumbed to his bullet wounds on May 3, 2006.

Soon after shooting his elder brother, Pravin Mahajan walked to the Worli police station and surrendered to the police along with his gun, saying: “I am Pravin; I killed Pramod.”

Pravin was sentenced to imprisonment for life, by a Sessions Court, on December 18, 2007.

During the trial, Pravin Mahajan had shown hardly any signs of remorse. He said that his friends used to taunt him saying that his “famous brother” had done little to help him.

Pravin’s own testimony during the trial revealed a story of sibling rivalry that had deteriorated into enmity and hatred.

In December 2009, Pravin was freed on parole, and at a news conference, he reiterated that his “family history” had prompted him to murder his own brother. He had then said that “every word I say is true.”

Pramod Mahajan, the eldest of five siblings, was older to Pravin by 11 years.

In a book that Pravin wrote, titled Mazha Album (My Album), he said relations between the brothers soured when Pramod started ignoring Rekha (Pramod’s wife). Pravin said he knew Rekha before she came into the Mahajan family.

Pravin wrote in his book: “Vahini (sister-in-law) had sold her gold ring to buy a ring for my wife Sarangi for our engagement. Though I had no objection to Pramod’s personal life, I could not bear the trauma vahini suffered because of Pramod’s behaviour. I saw a question mark in her eyes.”

Pravin, who said he felt that power in Delhi had spoilt Pramod, never admitted killing his brother, but kept repeating what Kahlil Gibran said: “The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder.”

It also came to light that Pravin’s relations with his other siblings – Pratima, Prakash, and Pradnya – were not good, either. He had described Gopinath Munde, Pradnya’s husband, and Prakash as “cowards” for not “questioning Pramod’s neglect of his wife.”

Pravin was apparently pained when his mother Prabhavati disowned him after the death of Pramod.

Sarangi’s brothers Prasad and Shailesh Pulliwar supported their sister and her twins Vrushali and Kapil. Prasad and Shailesh Pulliwar had to sell their ancestral land near Nagpur, in Maharashtra, to pay for Pravin’s court case.