Rahul in judicial custody
Rahul Mahajan, son of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, arrested on charges of drug abuse, was on Thursday sent to judicial custody till June 22 by a Delhi court.
By Agencies |
NEW DELHI: Rahul Mahajan, son of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, arrested on charges of drug abuse, was on Thursday sent to judicial custody till June 22 by a Delhi court. Metropolitan Magistrate AK Chaturvedi brought an end to Rahul’s two-day police remand when he rejected the Delhi Police’s application for a five-day extension of his custody.
Within seconds of the court passing the 14-day remand order, counsel Sunil Mittal submitted a bail application on Rahul’s behalf, to which the prosecution is to file its reply on Friday. The judge asked concerned authorities to have Rahul medically examined before he was taken to jail, directing that he would be lodged in judicial custody commensurate with his state of health.
Dressed in his trademark white shirt and blue jeans, Rahul nearly collapsed in the packed courtroom after the remand orders were passed, prompting directions for a medical check-up.
In their application on Thursday, Delhi police added fresh charges against Rahul for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders under section 27A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The prosecution also moved court to conduct certain tests on Rahul as part of its investigation, including polygraph, brain-mapping and narco-analysis tests, which will be taken up later.
Rahul was arrested on June 5 for illegal possession of drugs in small quantity for personal consumption, consuming and procuring drugs, allowing premises to be used for consuming drugs, abetment and criminal conspiracy (NDPS), besides destruction of evidence under the IPC. During arguments today, Rahul’s counsel Mittal, contested the prosecution’s application for further remand, pointing out that the FIR his client had been arrested under was very “vague” and failed to specify the exact quantity of drugs alleged to have been consumed by him.
According to the defence, it was essential to determine and place on record both the quantity and the nature of drug that was consumed in cases under the NDPS Act, a fact that was not clearly established by investigating officials here.
They also referred to four packets allegedly containing narcotic drugs recovered from Vivek Moitra’s body when he was brought to hospital, to substantiate charges against Rahul.
The police also cited Rahul’s disclosure statement where he allegedly admitted to frequent purchase of narcotic drugs from Mumbai and elsewhere, which had to be verified during his further police custody, a request that was turned down by the court.
While Moitra, a key aide of the late BJP leader, died in suspicious circumstances in the early hours of June two, Rahul was admitted to Apollo Hospital in a critical state that same morning soon after a late night party at his 7, Safdarjung Road residence.
The police have already arrested Zaroo, who allegedly bought drugs for Rahul and Moitra, and three Nigerian drug pedlars on charges of supplying drugs.Zaroo is in police custody till June 12, and the Nigerians - Abdulla, Ebraim, and James Tobu - are in custody till June 15.
Within seconds of the court passing the 14-day remand order, counsel Sunil Mittal submitted a bail application on Rahul’s behalf, to which the prosecution is to file its reply on Friday. The judge asked concerned authorities to have Rahul medically examined before he was taken to jail, directing that he would be lodged in judicial custody commensurate with his state of health.
Dressed in his trademark white shirt and blue jeans, Rahul nearly collapsed in the packed courtroom after the remand orders were passed, prompting directions for a medical check-up.
In their application on Thursday, Delhi police added fresh charges against Rahul for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders under section 27A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The prosecution also moved court to conduct certain tests on Rahul as part of its investigation, including polygraph, brain-mapping and narco-analysis tests, which will be taken up later.
Rahul was arrested on June 5 for illegal possession of drugs in small quantity for personal consumption, consuming and procuring drugs, allowing premises to be used for consuming drugs, abetment and criminal conspiracy (NDPS), besides destruction of evidence under the IPC. During arguments today, Rahul’s counsel Mittal, contested the prosecution’s application for further remand, pointing out that the FIR his client had been arrested under was very “vague” and failed to specify the exact quantity of drugs alleged to have been consumed by him.
According to the defence, it was essential to determine and place on record both the quantity and the nature of drug that was consumed in cases under the NDPS Act, a fact that was not clearly established by investigating officials here.
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To counter this, police referred to co-accused Sahil Zaroo’s disclosure statement where he allegedly admitted to have purchased seven grams of heroin on June 1, and later distributed among the members of the party.They also referred to four packets allegedly containing narcotic drugs recovered from Vivek Moitra’s body when he was brought to hospital, to substantiate charges against Rahul.
The police also cited Rahul’s disclosure statement where he allegedly admitted to frequent purchase of narcotic drugs from Mumbai and elsewhere, which had to be verified during his further police custody, a request that was turned down by the court.
While Moitra, a key aide of the late BJP leader, died in suspicious circumstances in the early hours of June two, Rahul was admitted to Apollo Hospital in a critical state that same morning soon after a late night party at his 7, Safdarjung Road residence.
The police have already arrested Zaroo, who allegedly bought drugs for Rahul and Moitra, and three Nigerian drug pedlars on charges of supplying drugs.Zaroo is in police custody till June 12, and the Nigerians - Abdulla, Ebraim, and James Tobu - are in custody till June 15.
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