In a dramatic turnaround, slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan’s younger brother and the self-confessed murder accused Praveen on Monday denied having killed Mahajan during his deposition in a sessions court here.

Maintaining straight face, Praveen told the court that he came to know of his eldest brother’s hospitalisation and subsequent death only from the newspapers.

Praveen’s testimony completely contradicted his own statement to police before whom he surrendered with pistol in his hand just a few minutes after Mahajan was shot in his Worli apartment.

Mahajan’s widow Rekha, who was in the apartment and is the sole eyewitness in the case, has already told the court that she saw Praveen firing three rounds from his pistol at her husband. According to her testimony, Praveen tried to fire the fourth bullet but the pistol jammed.

Praveen also denied having demanded Rs one crore from Mahajan or sending any threatening SMS to his brother. While Rekha and Mahajan’s brother-in-law Gopinath Munde had alleged that Praveen had repeatedly demanded Rs one crore from Mahajan, it was Munde who had disclosed the threatening SMS in the court. That SMS, warning Mahajan to face was stored in Mahajan’s mobile and was shown to the court by his daughter Poonam.An officer of the Reliance Infocomm too has testified about the SMS. Praveen’s lawyer Harshad Ponda had accused Munde of inventing the SMS to provide motive for Mahajan’s murder.

Praveen did confirm to the court that he went to the Worli police station with his pistol on the same day and identified himself as Praveen Mahajan.