A Mumbai court on Thursday deferred till June 13 the plea of Pravin Mahajan to undergo psychiatric tests to determine his state of mind at the time when he shot at his brother and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan.

Pravin, currently in judicial custody till June 14, was not produced in the court.

Pramod Mahajan died from the three bullet injuries after a 12-day battle for life.

Twice earlier, the court had rejected his plea for psychiatric tests.

Pravin's lawyers Nandkumar Rajurkar and Satyaki Varma have pleaded in the petition that the court direct the Worli police to gather evidence that have a bearing on the state of the mind of the accused on the day of the incident.

• A Brother's Wrath

Defence lawyers alleged that the police were collecting evidence that was only beneficial to the prosecution and were doing nothing about evidence that may benefit the accused.

Defence lawyers pointed out that the first information report filed after the incident focuses on the disturbed state of mind of Pravin and urged the court to direct the police to find out the circumstances that led the accused to go to his brother's house and attack him.

Urging the court to appoint a panel of psychiatric experts, the lawyers said it would be in the interest of justice to bring on record the mental and emotional state of mind of the accused prior to the incident and up to the point of reaching his brother's residence on the day of the incident.

Also See: Tragedy strikes the Mahajans again