NEW DELHI, 6 June 2006 — Rahul Mahajan, the son of late Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan who is recovering in a Delhi hospital after suspected drug overdose, was arrested yesterday evening. Although in his statement to police, Rahul denied having taken drugs, he has been charged under the Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substances Act of the Indian Penal Code.
A senior police officer claimed having sufficient evidence against Rahul to convict him of drug offenses. “We have sufficient evidence against Rahul as we have interrogated other accused involved in the case. It will be very difficult for him to get bail. We are seeking doctors’ opinion if he can be discharged,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Manish Aggarwal said.
Earlier yesterday, Rahul was questioned by police at Apollo Hospital where he was brought on Friday morning in critical condition. Pramod Mahajan’s secretary Vivek Moitra was brought dead to the hospital along with Rahul.
Rahul is being treated for suspected drug overdose. With his condition improving, he was shifted out of intensive care yesterday and police were allowed to speak to him for the first time.
With tests having confirmed that the white powder found on Vivek Moitra was cocaine and Rahul’s urine sample for drugs turning out positive, Apollo Hospital doctors treating Rahul have been served notice and will be questioned by police. They are under attack for giving conflicting reports regarding drugs in Rahul’s body. The hospital is also under fire for the delay in reporting Moitra’s death and Mahajan’s illness to police.
“There has been a definite delay from both sides to report the matter to the police. The hospital too was a good two hours late in reporting,” Aggarwal said.
Police have got eight days’ remand for Sahil Zarru, 22, who allegedly supplied the drugs to Rahul Mahajan. Three Nigerian nationals, who are suspected to have a role in selling the drug, are also in police custody.
With Rahul Mahajan’s drug abuse proving to be scandalous for the image of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its values, party leaders are keeping a safe distance from the case. Except for former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, nobody in the party is willing to forgive Rahul. Commenting on the incident, Vajpayee said in Manali, his summer retreat in the northern Himachal Pradesh state, that Rahul had made a mistake and needs BJP’s help. He said: “He is young and young people often make mistakes.”
With other members of the BJP not willing to encourage Rahul politically at least for now, the party decided yesterday to support industrialist Rahul Bajaj, as an independent candidate, for June 15 elections to the Rajya Sabha seat which fell vacant following Pramod Mahajan’s death.
Rahul Bajaj’s candidature is being supported by the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). As the NCP is an ally of the Congress party in Delhi and in Maharashtra, the party’s decision to support Bajaj’s candidature is viewed as reflective of a rift between the two allies.
With the Rahul Mahajan case making headlines, the spotlight is back on drugs and high life in Bombay with both Rahul and Zarru being known faces in the party circuit in India’s commercial capital.
“Cocaine, ecstasy, acid and heroin, commonly known as lifestyle drugs, are a rage with the rich and the famous in Bombay. Though both lethal and illegal, substance abuse is rampant in party circuits or private functions here,” said a senior official of Bombay’s anti-narcotic cell.
Buoyed by the ready markets here, South American and Chinese drug cartels have increased their cocaine trafficking in both Bombay and Delhi, according to police officers.
“The detention of six Nigerian nationals in Delhi only reaffirms that the drug cartels are increasingly using foreign students studying in Bombay and Delhi, mainly Sudanese, Nigerians and Kenyans as dealers and couriers to smuggle cocaine,” said a Bombay Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official.
“Bombay alone has 30 to 35 big-time drug suppliers with a well-knit network of over 150 dealers who cater to high society and high profile customers like Vivek Moitra and Rahul Mahajan on a regular basis,” the official told IANS.
The NCB official said though many of the dealers have been arrested in the past, they keep resurfacing. “They get back to their lucrative trade once they are out on bail or acquitted. After the arrest of actor Fardeen Khan in May 2005 for the possession of cocaine, most drug peddlers have become cautious.”
According to sources in the Bombay party circuit, both Rahul and Sahil are well known among the city’s glitterati. “Rahul is a regular at the city hot spots and parties in upmarket discotheques in Bandra, Colaba and Khar,” said a regular partygoer. “Sahil too is a known face in the party circuit. He is known to frequent several bars in south Bombay,” he said.
— Additional input from Indo Asian News Service
