The Hindu : National : Drug used by Rahul was minuscule: police

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Wednesday, Jun 14, 2006

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Drug used by Rahul was minuscule: police

Staff Reporter

A few white particles tested positive; two pouches sent to CFSL for testing

Rahul Mahajan

NEW DELHI: The Delhi police on Tuesday admitted before a special court hearing the bail application of Rahul Mahajan that the drug purchased, distributed and consumed by the accused could not be quantified due to its very minuscule amount.

While the investigating officer of the case read out the relevant paragraph from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) report on the samples sent to it by the police — which says that "a few white particles" has tested positive for heroin — the public prosecutor informed Special Judge Swarna Kanta Mehra that "We cannot ascertain the quantity of the drug."

The investigating officer informed the court that there had been no seizure of any drugs in the case as the entire quantity purchased from a Nigerian national through Sahil Zaroo, the other accused in the case, was consumed by Mr. Mahajan and his associates at the party organised at his father's 7 Safdarjung Road residence here.

He further submitted that Apollo Hospital, where Mr. Mahajan had been taken for treatment for drug consumption, had handed over to the police two plastic pouches containing a few white particles, which they had sent to CFSL for testing. The hospital authorities had received the two pouches in the same condition from one of the servants of the accused, the investigating officer submitted.

Earlier, seeking remand of Mr. Mahajan for custodial interrogation, the public prosecutor had told Metropolitan Magistrate A.K. Chaturvedi that the accused had procured 5 gm of heroin from Sahil Zaroo on the ground that he had paid Rs. 15,000 to the latter to purchase the drug. Surprisingly, while seeking extension of the remand later, the prosecution improved upon it saying that Mr. Mahajan had purchased 7 gm of heroin.

Opposing the bail application of Mr. Mahajan in the court of Mr. Chaturvedi, the police had submitted that they could not for sure tell at that stage about the exact quantity of the drug as the forensic examination reports were awaited.

Mr. Chaturvedi had deferred his orders on the bail application saying that the prosecution must be given a chance to get the forensic reports when the public prosecutor submitted that they would receive the reports within three to four days. But instead of submitting the reports to the court, the prosecution moved a special court challenging Mr. Chaturvedi's powers to hear the bail application.

However, the special court at Tis Hazari called their bluff when the police admitted for the first time since initiation of the probe that the drug was not weighed before sending its samples to the forensic laboratory. Questioning the authenticity of the forensic report, Special Judge N.K. Gupta had also pulled up the prosecution for the lapse.

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