Guilty: SMSes frame Pravin Mahajan

MUMBAI, INDIA: Pravin Mahajan, brother of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan who was shot dead last year, was found guilty of shooting his brother in a trial that used mobile phone text messages as evidence.

Pramod Mahajan, a IT minister and high-profile backroom manager of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was shot at his home in Mumbai, apparently over a property dispute.

Mahajan, regarded as a possible future head of the party, died after 12 days in hospital at the age of 56.

Police had said his younger brother Pravin had confessed to the murder but later retracted the statement in court. The prosecution said Pravin, who did not have a steady job, was angry after Pramod refused his demand for a large sum of money.

A lower court in Mumbai held the accused guilty of murder and reserved sentencing for Tuesday.

"I will apply my mind to say which type of punishment should be asked for him against the heinous crime," prosecution counsel Ujjwal Nikam told reporters.

The trial, held partly behind closed doors, saw the prosecution produce a "threatening" mobile phone text message sent to Pramod as evidence against Pravin.

The defence had then called in a telecommunications expert to show that messages on mobile phones could be tampered with.

(c) Reuters