145;I wanted to kill him146;

Pravin Mahajan has admitted to having long-standing differences with his elder brother in his statement recorded moments after he surrendered at the Worli police station on Saturday. Here8217;s Pravin8217;s statement:

8216;8216;I shot at my brother intentionally. Yes, I wanted to kill him, because he was of no use to me8230; I went to my brother8217;s place early in the morning. I wanted him to support me in getting some contracts. He is politically well connected, but he did not help me. I had lost a few big contracts due to Pramod8217;s non-cooperation. I had been requesting him for some time to help me. This morning too, I asked for his help, but he refused point blank and was very rude to me. This infuriated me and I fired at him. Even earlier, he used to refuse to meet me, because I had not taken earlier appointments. He used to refer me to his personal assistant, which I found quite humiliating.8217;8217;

STORY OF THE PISTOL/b>

In 1996, when Pravin Mahajan8217;s application for a gun licence got cleared, he began his search for a foreign-made pistol. The Belgium make .32 bore Browning pistol, which he finally bought in 1999, would have cost him anything between Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh in the open market.

But his family contacts proved quite handy here, sources revealed, and he got the pistol from the government quota at a throwaway price. His brother-in-law Gopinath Munde, who was Maharashtra Home Minister in 1996, had reportedly helped him get the licence for the pistol, sources said.