Betrayer brother

Till he walked into the Worli police station after shooting his elder brother and surrendered, the world hardly knew Pravin Mahajan. On his part, Pravin confessed to having shot Pramod Mahajan in a "fit of anger" as the latter had been "ill-treating" him. But, there's more than that to the story, going by the information about Pravin pieced together by Sunday Pioneer.

Pravin is among the four children of Venktesh Mahajan, of whom Pramod is the first son, Prakash the second, Pragnya the third and the now infamous junior-most second-generation Mahajan is the last.

Pravin was just five, when Venktesh died and Pramod brought him up as his own son. Pravin shifted to Mumbai later and his elder brother ensured he became a graduate. He also bought him a house at Naupada at Thane, a satellite town of Mumbai.

Pramod took care of all the financial needs of Pravin, who is now 45 and has two twin children studying in Class 11. He even got him an assignment with Reliance Infocomm which, according to sources close to him, fetched Pravin a monthly salary of Rs 75,000.

As sought to be made out, Pravin is no builder. Instead, as his buddies say, he had been living on easy earning. "We all know how he makes his living," a close friend of Pravin said, adding: "He stays at home and enjoys life. And all because of his elder brother." All who know Pravin say he is short-tempered. Most of Thane views him as a "vagabond who indulges in everything, including daily drives down to Mumbai for the nightlife."

"Pramod's indulgence of Pravin made him wayward. He was never short of funds," a source said. If that were so, then why shoot the mentor? The police have ruled out a property dispute, because Pramod had inherited nothing except an ancestral home. After shooting Pramod, Pravin alleges that his brother treated him and his family "like dirt" and often inflicted insult on them in public.

"I had been seeking an appointment with Pramod for the last 15 days but in vain... I, therefore, decided to visit him early this morning to confront him about his behaviour," Pravin says in a statement recorded by Worli police soon after he surrendered. He also claims that he was "ill treated" by his eldest brother in public who never assisted him financially and kept him away from family functions. "Life as the brother of a prominent personality became a curse to me... I am a poor brother of a rich man," Pravin said.

Sources say relations between Pravin and Pramod had long been strained. While several trigger points are being discussed in circles close to the two Mahajans, the focus is on what transpired at a dinner meeting that Pravin had with his brother and sister in-law on Friday night.

"He was looking cool and calm when he returned from dinner, had paan and watched TV for a while. He slept off and woke his wife Sarangi up at 5.30 am the next day and told her he was gouing for a morning walk," a friend says.

He left his mobile phone at home, but carried his licenced pistol, when he drove down in his car to Worli to meet Pramod. What happened subsequently is now on record. What is sought is the real motive behind Pravin's act.