Pramod Mahajan had received a 'threatening' SMS from his brother Pravin a few days prior to being shot at by him last year, Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary and a relative of the late leader Gopinath Munde told a court on Wednesday.

Munde, while being examined by the prosecution in the Pramod Mahajan murder case, told the court in Mumbai that Pramod had received the message which stated, 'now there will be war. There will either be victory or an end to it all...'

According to Munde, Pramod received the message a few days after Pravin had gone to his residence, demanded Rs one crore and said that he would face the consequences for not paying him the amount.

After receiving the message, Pramod had called Munde -- his brother-in-law -- and asked him to speak to Pravin about it, the BJP leader told the court.

Following Munde's statement, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told the court that this was a new development, which had not emerged during earlier investigations in the case. He sought to defer the recording of Munde's statement since the police will now need to look into this matter.

The court adjourned the recording of Munde's statement until Thursday and asked the police to probe Munde's claims.

Pramod was allegedly shot multiple times by Pravin at his Worli residence in South Mumbai on April 22 last year. He succumbed to the injuries on May 3.

According to Rekha, Pramod's widow and a key witness in the murder case, she had called Munde, who lived in the same building as Pramod, after her husband was allegedly shot at by his brother Pravin.