NEW DELHI, 13 June 2006 — Charged under the Narcotics Act for drug abuse, Rahul Mahajan was produced before a special court here yesterday. The Delhi Police had on Sunday filed an application before Special Judge N.K. Gupta at the Tis Hazari complex challenging the powers of a metropolitan court to try the case against Rahul.
The Delhi Police had also sought the transfer of the case to a special court. The special court accepted the application and continued hearing of the case yesterday. Accepting the review petition of the police, the special judge directed transfer of all files including Rahul’s bail application to a designated court under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Rahul’s bail application will come up for hearing before a designated court today.
Seeking a 10-year term for Rahul, the police appealed for a stronger section of law against him. Defense counsel Sunil Mittal’s argument rested on quantity of drugs found at Mahajan’s Safdarjung residence. Prosecution countered this by charging Rahul, under NDPS Act, of financing illicit traffic and harboring offenders.
The defense countered this by blaming the prosecution for not being able to distinguish between financing through a series of transactions and consumption through a single transaction.
Accepting this contention, the court ruled out the applicability of section 27A (financing and trafficking of contraband) in Rahul’s case.
