A day after he told the court of additional sessions judge S P Davare who is conducting the Pramod Mahajan murder trial, Pravin (46) made the allegations on the late BJP leader’s character while narrating his version of the sequence of events on the second day of his testimony. At that stage, the prosecution quickly cut him short, seeking a direction from the court that his further statements be recorded in-camera.

Prosecution lawyer Niteen Pradhan said, “Pravin’s statements could be defamatory and affect the people involved. Pramod was the fatherly figure of the family and he (accused) wants to say something about his (Pramod) character.”

He added it would not be proper to conduct the trial in the open court as “public gaze” was not going to help anyone.

Defence counsel Harshad Ponda, however, told the court that it was important to record what Pravin wanted to say as there were many facts that needed to be placed on record. Pravin earlier said that he had gone to Pramod’s house on April 22 last year at 0730 hours. Pramod was waiting for him in the passage outside the door and they went into his living room together, he said.

According to Pravin, only he and Pramod were talking and none of the witnesses examined by this court were present then, Mr Ponda told the court.

Pravin has responded to most of the questions put to him by the judge with monosyllabic responses.