NEWS

Pravin Mahajan's judicial custody extended

Source:PTI
June 14, 2006

A local court on Wednesday rejected Pravin Mahajan's plea to undergo psychiatric tests to determine his state of mind when he had fired at his brother and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan.

Extending Pravin's judicial custody till June 28, Magistrate B L Waghmare also rejected his plea urging the court to supervise probe on the ground that it was one-sided.

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The court observed that prima facie it was satisfied that investigations were fair and proper and there was no reason to believe that pressure tactics were followed by the investigating agency.

Under the circumstances, Pravin's plea for supervision of police probe was not maintainable, it said.

The court also rejected Pravin's plea to meet his relatives for 15 minutes outside the court saying he should move an application through his lawyer.

When the magistrate inquired from Pravin about his health, the accused said he was diabetic and did not get proper sleep in jail. Besides, he suffered from frequent bouts of headaches.

Asked whether he had any mental problem, Pravin replied in the negative. He told the court that he was very disturbed over developments in his family since last 18 months and also upset over the recent incident in Delhi concerning his nephew Rahul. "It is a national tragedy," he said.

The court, however, advised him not to raise the issue, as it was not concerned with developments in Delhi.

Outside the court, Pravin's lawyer Nandkumar Rajurkar said he would file an appeal in a sessions court challenging the order rejecting the two petitions.

Pravin urged the court to subject him to psychiatric tests to determine state of his mind prior to the incident and on April 22 when he had shot at his brother.

Thrice earlier, the court had rejected his plea for psychiatric tests. Prosecutor E B Dhamal said Pravin had been examined by doctors, who had not suggested psychiatric tests for him.

Pravin's lawyers Nandkumar Rajurkar and Satyaki Varma pleaded that the court should direct the Worli police to probe into the circumstances and gather evidence, which have a bearing on the state of the mind of the accused on the day of the incident and before it.

Defence lawyers alleged that police were collecting evidence, which were beneficial only to the prosecution and was not gathering evidence that could benefit the accused.

Defence lawyers pointed out that the FIR focuses on the disturbed state of mind of Pravin and urged the court to direct the police to find out the circumstances that led the accused to go to his brother's house and attack him.

Urging the court to appoint a panel of psychiatric experts to determine Pravin's state of mind, the lawyers said it would be in the interest of justice to bring on record the mental and emotional state of mind of the accused prior to the incident and up to the point of reaching his brother's residence on the day of the incident.

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Source: PTI
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