Book a conspiracy against Pramod Mahajan: Brother

Mumbai: Refuting the charges levelled against late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan by his brother Praveen, accused of former's murder, their younger brother Prakash has termed it as a conspiracy to defame the slain BJP leader.

''All the allegations in his book are wrong and baseless. It's a political conspiracy to defame Pramodji. The newspaper published excerpts from the book without any proof. But I don't want to blame anyone,'' Prakash Mahajan said at a press conference on Sunday.

Leading Marathi daily Loksatta on Sunday published excerpts from 'Majha Album (My Album)'', a book written by Praveen Mahajan, which is yet to be released.

Praveen had shot Pramod dead on April 22, 2006 after which he succumbed to his injuries on May 03, 2006.

At present, Praveen is serving a life term in Nashik Central Jail. ''I knew Pramodji very well. The allegations on his character are wrong. Pramod loved us all very much, especially Praveen the most. He brought us up after the death of our father. I have great respect for him,'' Prakash said.

''If Bhabi (Rekha Mahajan) was thinking of divorcing Pramodji, she would have told me, not Praveen. This is an attempt at Pramod's character assassination,'' Prakash added.

About the mention of Barkha episode, Prakash said,'' it's an attempt by Praveen to create hatred in the minds of their sister and brother-in-law Gopinath Munde about Pramod.''

He further said Praveen used to blackmail Pramod for money and had killed him for money.

On Sarangi Mahajan, Praveen's wife, Prakash said,''Sarangi came in our family in 1986. You believe her and her writings and not me, who was born in the Mahajan family.''

Meanwhile, the BJP general secretary and Pramod Mahajan's brother-in-law Gopinath Munde has denied to make any comment on the issue.

However, Sarangi Mahajan said,'' whatever is written in the book is true but we have no intentions to hurt anybody's feelings. She said she had poured out her and her husband's heart in the book and no one should try to take any political advantage of it.