Pramod Mahajan battling for life

Mumbai, Apr 22 (UNI) Senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan is battling for life in a city hospital on life-support system 12 hours after he was shot by his younger brother Pravin at his Worli residence this morning.

Hinduja hospital spokeman Dr Anupam Verma, in the second medical bulletin at 2000 hrs, said ''there is no change in his critical position....more tests are in the pipeline but all this can be done only when there is sign of stability.'' Three of the four bullets which shattered liver, pancreas and intestines of the 56-year-old BJP general secretary were still embedded and could not be removed because of his grave condition.

Hospital sources said the team of doctors who operated upon Mr Mahajan were consulting doctors in the country and abroad through video-conferencing and other communication modes. The sources said a team of at least two senior Army doctors also visited the hospital and gave their expert opinion on how to treat bullet-ridden patients.

In what appears to be pre-determined murderous assault on his brother, Pravin fired four shots one after the other from his licensed .32 mm Belgian Browning pistol and then walked out of the 15th floor apartment. He then went across to the nearby Worli police station, gave himself up along with his firearm and reportedly confessed his crime, saying he felt insulted and neglected by his ''big brother'', making him suffer from inferiority complex.

While Pravin's lawyer Nandkumar Rajurkar said he was mentally ill and needed psychiatric treatment, but Police Commissioner A N Roy described the accused as '' mentally stable and sound'' after his medical examination in the government-run JJ hospital.

The Hinduja Hospital at Mahim witnessed a stream of VIPs after Mr Mahajan was shifted to its ICU unit after four-hour surgery. They included former BJP presidents L K Advani and Venkaiah Nadu, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Narendra Modi, Vasundhara Raje and Arjun Munda, BJP Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jharkhand respectively, State Home Minister R R Patil.

President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi .......ED: Here pick up from para 4 of DR 58 Crime-Mahajan-Fourth lead shot.

UNI Team SA PK RAI2144