Mumbai: BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan, who died battling for his life for 12 days at Hinduja Hospital on Wednesday, will be accorded a state funeral on Thursday.
Mahajan's body that was kept at BJP headquarters in Mumbai was taken to his home in Worli on Thursday morning where a steady stream of family members and friends poured in to pay their last respects.
Later in the day, the body would be taken to Shivaji Park where the cremation will take place with full state honours.
The BJP flag will fly half-mast in honour of the deceased leader.
And while BJP party workers and Mahajan's well-wishers are mourning the loss of a "bright, futuristic leader", the family of the man responsible for Pramod's fate has decided give Pramod's funeral a miss.
Pravin Mahajan, who shot elder brother Pramod, is in judicial custody and his wife Sarangi has told a team of police personnel late on Wednesday evening that none of her family members would attend the cremation.
Pravin and Sarangi have twins - son Kapil and daughter Vrushali.
During the 12 days of Pramod's hospitalisation, Pravin’s family stayed indoors, even covering the window-panes of their Thane apartment to avoid media glare.
The police have also stepped up the security around the ‘Jinja’ building, where the family stays.
Pravin, who pumped in three bullets from a point blank range on his elder brother at the latter's Worli residence on April 22, was sent to judicial custody by a local court in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Pravin was informed of the death of his brother by the police and also by the central jail authorities.
According to his lawyer Nandkumar Rajurkar, Pravin, too, will not attend his brother's funeral.
Rajurkar said he had not received any instructions from Pravin to move the court for attending the funeral and hence he had not filed any such application.
Pravin faces murder charges
By evening, police had slapped murder charges on him. Pravin was earlier charged with attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code. However, he now faces a possible life imprisonment or even the death penalty under Section 302 of the IPC.
"It is no longer attempt to murder. Now the charge is that of murder," said A N Roy, Police Commissioner.
As a procedure, the police have to prepare a letter stating the victim of an 'attempt to murder' case has died and the section of law has changed from 'attempt to murder' to murder.
On Wednesday afternoon, Pravin was produced in court, but he showed no signs of remorse.
In fact throughout his examination, he remained sarcastic and irreverent.
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