Pravin's plea for movement within jail refused

Mumbai, May 19: A Metropolitan Court here today disposed off three of the four pleas made by Pravin, arrested on the charge of murdering his elder brother and senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, but adjourned hearing to May 30 on his request for psychiatric examination when the defence sought time to produce medical evidence in support.

Pravin's plea for movement within jail was turned down when prosecution contended the accused could be harmed if taken out from the high security ''egg cell'' as he had allegedly murdered an important person.

Pravin is lodged in the high security Arthur Jail here since May 3 when Mahajan succumbed to gunshot injuries allegedly inflicted by him.

While granting his second plea for newspapers and periodicals, Metropolitan Magistrate P T Rahule, however, ordered all news related to the high profile murder case be deleted before providing these to the accused at his own cost.

The Magistrate ordered return of Pravin's car to his wife Sarangi on her executing a Rs four lakh bond and directed her to produce it before the police as and when required.

Pravin, whose judicial custody was extended till May 31 by another Magistrate on Wednesday through video-conferencing, was not produced in the court today either. He was represented by lawyer Davendra Yadav, while the prosecution's arguments were made by Mr Shrikant Bhatt.

The prosecution today again strongly opposed Pravin's psychiatric examination, reiterating he is mentally fit and pointed as evidence the reply made by the accused to his lawyer during remand proceedings held on May 17. Mr Bhatt said Pravin had stated he was ''all right'' when his lawyer asked him how he was. Secondly, he contended a similar plea made by him had been turned by courts on three occasions earlier.

The defence, while pressing for mind tests of the accused, however, sought time to produce medical evidence to support its plea. Mr Yadav said documents relating to the medical evidence making out the case for psychiatric examination of Pravin were lying with senior defence lawyer Nandkumar Rajurkar, who was not present in the court today. Rajurkar had come to the court of Mr M Y Sheikh on Wednesday but was not present when remand proceedings were held through video-conferencing.

The hearing today took place in the court of Mr Rahule as Mr Sheikh, also a Metropolitan Magistrate, was not present during the post-lunch session.

While turning down Pravin's plea that he be taken out of his ''egg cell'' for a brief walk in the morning and evening within the jail premises, the Magistrate, however, directed the jail authorities to provide a Yoga instructor to the accused who could make him keep fit mentally and physically inside the ''egg cell.'' Special Public Prosecutor Shrikant Bhatt said there was a distinct possibility of the accused being harmed if he was taken out of his cell because he has murdered an important person.

In his deposition, senior jailor P K Mane said it was not possible to provide the necessary security to the accused because of inadequate staff in the crowded Arthur Road jail. He said jail held over 3,000 convicts and undertrials as against its rated capacity of only 840 and was being managed by a staff of only 125.

Mr Bhatt also pointed out that the accused had been kept in a separate cell at his own request. But when the prosecution opposed provision of newspapers and periodicals to Pravin, his lawyer asked that when the facility was available to him during police custody what was the reason for the same is being denied to him in the jail. When Mr Bhatt argued that the accused could react during his deposition after reading news related to his case, the defence dismissed the apprehension asking if Pravin had ever reacted when he had this facility in the police custody.

Before he was sent to judicial custody on May 3, Pravin spent 11 days in police custody.

After hearing arguments of both sides and on the suggestion made by the prosecution, the Magistrate allowed newspapers and periodicals to Pravin at his own cost but directed the jail authorities to clip all news related to the murder case of the senior BJP leader before providing these to him.

On Pravin's plea for return of his car to his family on the ground that it was the only personal transport available to it, the Magistrate directed the police to hand over the car to Sarangi, wife of the accused, after she executed a bond of Rs four lakh and gave an undertaking to produce it before the police as and when required.

Police had seized the car in which 45-year-old Pravin had travelled from his Thane home to the Worli residence of the 56-year-old Mahajan on April 22. Pravin, after allegedly pumping in three bullets into Mahajan at the latter's 15th floor apartment in Poorna building at Worli, had, however, hired a cab to travel to the nearby Worli police station where he surrendered with the firearms he used in committing the crime.

UNI