SMS details can be contrived, says witness

Mumbai, Nov 1: A computer expert, B Harikrishna, while deposing as a witness in the Pramod Mahajan murder case, today told the court that the mobile number of an SMS sender and other details could be contrived.

The details can be contrived using a popular software, the witness told the court of additional sessions judge S P Davare.

He also offered to demonstrate the same before the court.

According to the prosecution, Pravin Mahajan, who stands accused of having murdered his elder brother and BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, had sent two SMSs to the latter few days before he was shot dead.

One of the messages read, ''Ab Yachana Nahi Ran Hoga. Jivan Vijay Ke Sath Yaa Maran Hoga (There will be a battle now. There will be either victory or death)''. In the second SMS, Pravin had allegedly demanded Rs one crore from Pramod Mahajan, according to the prosecution case.

Defence counsel Harshad Ponda had requested the court that he be allowed to examine the computer expert as he wanted to prove that SMS details could be contrived.

Today, Adv Ponda, during the examination-in-chief of the witness, sought to know whether SMS contents, the date, time, and other details could be changed. To this, the witness replied in the affirmative and said this is possible by using a leading IT company's Visual Studio tool.

The witness offered to give a demonstration. But, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam sought time before he cross-examined the witness. The Court granted time and adjourned the matter till tomorrow.

UNI