Rahul Mahajan (politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other people with the same name, see Rahul Mahajan.

Rahul Mahajan (born 1974) in a Maharashtrian Deshastha Brahmin family is an Indian politician. He is son of the late Indian politician, Pramod Mahajan.

Rahul Mahajan came into the news when his father was shot by his own brother and struggled for his life for twelve days before succumbing. Television footage showed him comforting his sister and mother and maintaining a stoic demeanour. There were rumours that Mahajan would be inducted into the BJP to follow his father's footsteps.

However, exactly a month after his father's death on June 3, 2006, Mahajan was hospitalized after an alleged cocaine overdose. His father's secretary, Vivek Maitra was also rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. The two had imbibed a cocktail of drugs along with champagne. Mahajan recovered, but on his discharge from hospital on June 6 2006, he was arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of drug possession and consumption.

The case has become more complex due to the fact that there are several different versions of what happened that night, and the fact that Apollo Hospital, where the two were admitted, said in a press conference that Mahajan's toxin screens were negative for all known drug types. An independent testing of Mahajan's blood has yielded different results, with high quantities of opiates detected in his blood sample. Apollo hospital has since changed their answer, saying that traces of barbiturates and opiates were found in his bloodstream. The forensics lab, after examining Mahajan's gastric lavage, has declared that heroin had been consumed, probably after mistaking it to be cocaine, and the Indian press has compared the incident to the movie Pulp Fiction.

In July 2006, he got engaged to Shweta Singh-Mahajan someone who he has known for 13 years. They were in flying school together in the US, and also flew for the Indian airline Jet Airways. This engagement is a little controversial in its timing, with people wondering why it was so sudden. The wedding took place on August 29 at 'Blue Sea', a marriage hall at Worli sea face in Central Mumbai near the Mahajan residence. The marriage, it seems, is on rocks right now with serious allegation of beating that Rahul meted out to his new wife.