Pramod Mahajan Case

Pravin smiles when Rekha faints in court

Pravin Mahajan and his sister-in-law Rekha Mahajan came face to face for the first time yesterday since the morning of April 26, 2006 when BJP leader Pramod Mahajan was murdered. Rekha broke down three times during her deposition, but fainted in court when she saw Pravin smiling.With the sensational Mahajan murder trial kicking off in the sessions court on Wednesday, Pravin, accused of killing his elder brother Pramod, was led into the court at about 11.30 am. Rekha, a prime eyewitness, was already present in the courtroom to give her testimony, while Pravin, who had been waiting outside, spent time chatting with his son Kapil. Before the court proceedings began, Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam and Kapil sat on the same bench inside the court, but on extreme ends, without exchanging glances.

Rekha broke down the moment Pravin entered the courtroom, so her niece Pankaja Munde went up to her and helped her calm down. She began weeping once again when asked to identify Pravin Mahajan. When the court asked Pravin his name, his voice resonated in the courtroom, “I am Pravin Mahajan.”When Rekha began deposing, Pravin hung on to every word she spoke and stared at the five family members present in the court. Rekha told the court in Marathi that on April 22, she heard a “Fut Fut aawaz” (gunshots) inside her house and immediately broke down once again. Seconds later, she fainted, which was when this reporter caught Pravin smiling. When Rekha was led out of the courtroom, Poonam looked angrily at Pravin, but special prosecutor Nitin Pradhan helped her calm down.

Also present were
Pramod’s sister Pradnya Munde, her two daughters, Pramod’s brother Prakash and Pramod’s daughter Poonam.However, Sarangi, who is always present in the court, chose to remain absent. Her brother Prasad Pulliwar said in explanations, “She is a witness. So while one witness is recording statement, the other witness remains outside.” Pravin’s counsel, Mukesh Modi, said, “I don’t want to comment.”

FLASHBACK

On the morning of April 22, 2006, Pravin visited brother Pramod at his Worli residence and allegedly shot him a number of times after an argument. On May 3, Pramod passed away and Pravin’s charge of attempt to murder was changed to murder.

MUMBAI NEWS

Raped for Rs 150!

In the latest development in the Thane call girl rape case, police have revealed that even though the four accused had sex with Seema Biswas (name changed) with her consent, she was allegedly gang-raped later because she asked for Rs 150 as autorickshaw fare. On Monday, the Vartak Nagar police arrested four men for raping Seema (19) at Yeoor Hills. It was later revealed that the victim is a call girl and that they had earlier had sex with her consent. “The victim was engaged by Bharat Bhoir. Bharat’s three friends were already waiting for him at Yeoor Hills. While returning home to Thane, Seema asked the boys to pay her Rs 150 as auto fare. They started quarrelling when they refused to pay her. They then took her in their Indica and raped her,” said senior inspector Bajirao Bhosale. According to the police, Bharat took Seema to Yeoor Hills around 7 pm on Monday. The Vartak Nagar police found Seema while patrolling Yeoor Hills. After talking to her, they then arrested Bharat and his friends Ravindra Songhare, Dinesh Patil and Rupak Agrawal from Thane. “While preliminary inquiries revealed that she was gang-raped, thorough investigation brought to our notice that the girl had gone willingly with Bharat,” said Bhosale.Seema agreed that she is a prostitute and had gone with them with her approval. She added, “I asked them to pay me the auto fare as per our deal, but they refused to do so and raped me in their car.”The accused said they did not rape her, but paid for sex. “Whatever happened between us was with her consent. We paid for sex with her,” said Bharat. The accused have been arrested for gang rape and wrongful confinement. They have been remanded to police custody till today.