Fatal Fratricide

Pravin Mahajan: Poor brother of a rich, illustrious and media-loved icon of Indian politics, Pramod Mahajan. Moderately successful builder in Mumbai, and consultant to several companies of the likes of Reliance Infocomm. Drank occasionally. A caring father, a loving husband and yet, was the black sheep of the family. Was repeatedly slighted and ill treated by his more famous sibling, yet he adored his Pramod dada. Journo Sreevalsan Menon walks down the memory lane and remembers him as a technology hungry person who thought highly of his brother and praised him at every oppurtunity. Like all of us, he loved the good life. On April 22, he walked into his brother's bedroom and pumped three bullets into him at point-blank range.

Pramod Mahajan: The most lovable face of the BJP front runners. Aspired for the top post in 2014 elections. Has a coterie of people following his cellphone-and-laptop toting persona, but none have words of praise for him. Courts controversies like the pickle on his curd rice. Accused of brokering deals in the corridors of power. Leads a high profile life, which goes against the basic principles he learnt in the RSS. Accused of favouring Reliance during his tenure as the Communications minister in the NDA government. Found many-a-time dining and wining with media moguls and industry bigwigs. Was accused to have extra-marital relations with slain journalist Shivani Bhatnagar (in fact, Madhu Sharma, wife of RK Sharma, screamed all over the TV asking for the whereabouts of Pramod Mahajan at the time of Shivani's murder).

Like chalk and cheese, these two brothers' lives hardly match. One struggled to make ends meet and led a normal middle class life in Mumbai. The other led a high-profile life with multiple cellphones and plotted party tactics on laptops. One was a model neighbour (The next door lady went public on TV saying "Achche log they. Hamare liye to bahut hi achchey they.") The other was too busy for family (He asked his brother to meet him by taking appointments with his secretary). One always sang praises of his brother (Ask Sreevalsan Menon, about the trip to Germany). The other always slighted and ignored him (Pramod continued reading the paper after he saw Pravin, and allegedly mistook him to be a newspaper boy).

There was no property at stake, there were no ill feelings. Yet if a non-criminal like Pravin goes into his beloved brother's bedroom and shoots him down, it means there was a strong reason for him to get rid of Pramod. And look at the stoic replies he gives the police. That he was repeatedly mistreated by his brother, that he was ignored at family functions, that he had debts to clear and his brother didn't help him. Very normal reasons to pick a fight perhaps, but fail miserably as reasons for murder.

And he was mentally stable enough to give himself up and court arrest. Is he trying to hide something? Something big enough to kill his own brother, and then by giving himself up, diverting attention towards himself, and away from both the families. The media too, talks of only the brothers, and nothing about the families. It reeks of the feeling that Pravin wants to save his and his brother's families of an embarassment, much bigger than a brother-killed-brother saga.

Add this to the fact that the money from Pravin's consultancy (about Rs 70000 per month) was remitted to his wife Sarangi's account. And that Pramod Mahajan had acquired shares of a prominent company in his sister-in-law Sarangi's name. And that the police say that the murder was pre-meditated. Keeping in mind Pramod's high profile life, and the accusations in Shivani murder case, it puts a weird feeling in my mind.

Did Pramod Mahajan have an affair with his brother's wife Sarangi?