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A city court today granted bail to Rahul Mahajan New Delhi, June 14 A city court today granted bail to Rahul Mahajan in connection with a case of alleged drug abuse. Special Court Judge Swarna Kanta granted bail to Mahajan on his submitting a bond of Rs 2 lakh and a surety for the same amount. The court also asked him not to leave Delhi without permission till the filing of a chargesheet against him. The court directed Rahul not to tamper with any evidence. It also ordered him to surrender his passport and not leave the country without permission. Meanwhile, Sahil Zaroo’s bail application will come up for argument tomorrow before Special Judge S.N. Gupta as also the prosecution application for conducting the brain-mapping and narco analysis tests of Rahul. Meanwhile, the police said it had ample evidence to nail Apollo Hospital’s administrators who had informed the police about the incident nearly two hours late. The police said it could have gathered more evidence from the scene and would have also prevented destruction of evidence from the scene of the crime. “If they would have informed us on time, we would have been able to collect more evidence from the scene and would have also prevented any destruction of evidence,” said a senior police official investigating the case. Investigators said they would like to know from Reddy and Chandru about the delay in informing the police about the incident, especially since a known public figure was involved. The police was also investigating whether the entry register of the hospital was fudged and added that due to the delay in informing the police, the investigators were finding it difficult to ascertain the exact quantity of drugs involved. The hospital had also failed to give a satisfactory explanation as to why Rahul was put on ventilator after he was admitted to the hospital. Meanwhile, a Delhi court has directed the police to file by July 7, a status report on investigations related to the case registered against the doctors and the management of Apollo Hospital. The police today said that it had “ample evidence” to prove that “tampering” was done at the highest level to botch up the case. The police was also planning to question Apollo head Pratap Reddy and his aide Raji Chandru in the next couple of days, sources said. The court also sent three
Nigerians arrested in the case to judicial custody till June 22. The three
were produced before the Special Court as their police custody ended today.
Rahul
Dulhaniya Le Jayega
In his first public comments after the murder, Mahajan's younger brother also asserted that he was innocent and he would "say it all in the court". "They (the two incidents) are related. And Delhi and Mumbai Police should coordinate with each other. The keys are in Hindujas (Hospital in Mumbai where Mahajan succumbed to bullet injuries). If Apollo (Hospital in Delhi where Rahul's reports were allegedly fudged) can do that, then Hindujas...," he told reporters while being escorted out of the court here, which extended his judicial custody. Alleging that the Mahajan family was now hostage to the "tentwallahs", an apparent reference to the late leader's close aide Sudhanshu Mittal, and a former Personal Assistant, he said former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should explain to the nation why "this thing" (the Rahul episode) happened in the high-security zone. Rahul sent to 14-day judicial
custody
NEW DELHI: Barely a month after the death of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, tragedy struck the family again on Friday. While his secretary and Man Friday Vivek Moitra died, his son Rahul is fighting for life in Apollo Hospital after what sources called a suspected drug overdose. According to the police, they consumed heroin brought to the 7, Safdarjung Road bungalow allotted to Pramod Mahajan by four visitors in their 20s who had been approached by Moitra, a regular drug user. Sources asserted he knew dealers in the city. Three of the visitors, Rahul, Tishay and Karan, turned themselves in at the Mandir Marg police station, while the fourth, Sahil, was still evading the police. Their lawyer, Ranvir Singh Kundu, confirmed his clients' presence at Mahajan's house, and that Sahil, who knew Moitra, procured drugs for the two. He said his clients did not know Rahul and Moitra and went along with Sahil when he promised to introduce them to a "very prominent" politician. Heroin was recovered from Moitra's trousers, while two empty pouches with drug residue were also seized from the spot. The "visitors" were present when Rahul and Moitra became unconscious and frothed at the mouth. They disappeared from the scene soon after Rahul and Moitra were driven to hospital. The two were brought to Apollo Hospital around 3 in the morning with what were initially suspected to be symptoms of poisoning. Sources in the multi-disciplinary team at Apollo told TOI that Moitra was brought dead, while Rahul was unconscious and admitted to the ICU. The doctors discovered that he had no pulse at all. He was administered electric shocks and adrenalin. The hospital spokesman said: "Rahul had low blood pressure, his oxygen and respiratory levels were also low and he barely had a pulse." A CT-scan was conducted to
evaluate his nervous system, liver and kidney functioning. In the evening,
though his condition was described as stable, he was still on ventilator
and under sedation.
Both Mahajan and Maitra were admitted to the Apollo hospital in South Delhi in the wee hours. A hospital spokesman said Maitra was brought in dead at 3 am while Mahajan was admitted to the ICU. He refused to comment on the condition of Mahajan. However, a close family friend of the Mahajans said that Rahul, who is admitted to the ICU of the hospital, is in a serious but stable condition. His vital parametres are functioning normally, he said. The family source said both Mahajan and Maitra were found to be suffering from 'some kind of poisoning'. He, however, declined to elaborate whether it was food poisoning. Mahajan's family has been informed and his uncle and Maharashtra BJP legislature party leader Gopinath Munde and some close relatives were rushing to the capital. Rahul Mahanjan was in the news recently when he attended the BJP national executive meeting in Delhi early this week, triggering speculation about his possible entry into politics. Rahul's name was also proposed by the BJP to replace his late father in the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra but the Congress had apparently turned down the proposal. Maitra, whose body been has been kept in the hospital mortuary, has been a close associate of the Mahajan family for the past several years. A senior police official said that Mahajan and Maitra had 'consumed somthing' which led to the worsening of their condition. Police have launched an inquest
into the matter, he said.
They were totally unknown to the domestic help at Mahajan's residence. They visited the Mahajan's Safdarjung road residence twice during the night, he said. Rahul was scheduled to leave
for Guwahati via Kolkata by air this morning to immerse his late father's
ashes in the
The Police official said that some 'white powder' was recovered from Mahajan's residence, where a party was organised last night. The powder has been sent for chemical examination, he said. Some champagne bottles were
removed from the scene and kept in a cupboard. The vomit of Mahajan and
Maitra was also cleared up at the residence, he said adding the evidence
in the incident has been 'disturbed'.
New Delhi: Preliminary police investigation into the suspected food poisoning of Rahul Mahajan, son of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, and the death of his secretary Vivek Maitra is centered around three unidentified persons who had visited his residence late last night. Police said the trio had visited Mahajan's residence twice in the night and allegedly had champagne with Mahajan and Maitra. "We are trying to ascertain the identities of the three men and investigations are on in that direction," Additional DCP, New Delhi, Manish Aggarwal told reporters here. He said police has recovered ‘some white powder’ in polythene from the scene and has sent it for chemical examination. "It is a very small sample and details about it would be known only after chemical examination," he added. "The scene of the incident at Mahajan's 7, Safdarjung residence was disturbed as the household staff had kept the champagne bottles and glasses in a cupboard and cleaned up the vomit of Mahajan and Maitra from the floor of the house," Aggarwal said. He said the household staff, identified as Ganesh and Anil, had found Rahul and Vivek lying unconscious in the wee hours and rushed them to Apollo hospital. Hospital authorities then informed the Station House Officer (SHO) of Tuglak Road Police Station about the incident, he said. On questioning, the servants told police that Rahul was expecting some friends. Asked whether police suspected any foul play, he said, “It was too early to comment. We are inquiring into the cause of death. All angles are being probed. It could be a case of natural or accidental intoxication, but it is too early to say." Forensic experts are examining
the white powder found from the scene of incident and have visited the
hospital to collect the blood and vomit samples of Mahajan and Maitra.
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