The Hindu : Front Page : Rahul Mahajan set free on bail

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Thursday, Jun 15, 2006

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Rahul Mahajan set free on bail

Staff Reporter

Told to surrender his passport and stay in Delhi until charge sheet is filed in the case

PHOTO: PTI

BACK HOME: Rahul Mahajan with his mother at 7 Safdarjung Road in New Delhi on Wednesday night.

NEW DELHI: Nine days after his arrest in a drug abuse case, Rahul Mahajan was granted bail by a special court here on Wednesday upon furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 2 lakhs and a surety of like amount.

Granting the bail, Special Judge Swarna Kanta Mehra said nothing worthwhile had been placed on record as yet by the prosecution to show that the accused had indulged in systematic or organised trafficking of drugs or was found in possession of drugs in commercial quantity.

She directed Rahul Mahajan not to leave the country without prior permission of the court and surrender his passport within a day of his release. Also, he would not leave Delhi without prior permission of the court till the filing of the charge sheet in the case.

Further, the court asked Rahul Mahajan not to tamper with evidence or approach witnesses in any manner.

The court had reserved its orders on Tuesday at the conclusion of arguments by counsel for the prosecution and the accused.

Commenting on the conduct and character of the accused, Ms. Mehra in her 20-page order on Wednesday said: "He belongs to a good family and is an educated youth with otherwise clean antecedents as admitted by the prosecution. In fact, it seems that he needs professional help for his rehabilitation.''

Ms. Mehra admitted the contention of the defence counsel that if Rahul Mahajan had committed an offence at all under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, it was consumption of narcotic drugs. ``It is clear at this stage that the present applicant had consumed heroin with champagne as his blood test reveals,'' she said.

``The police could not bring on record evidence pointing to a series of transactions of narcotic drugs by the accused to cover the present case under the ambit of Section 27 (A) (financing drug deals and harbouring drug dealers),'' the Judge said.

Offences covered by Section 27 (A) of the Act are non-bailable and to be tried by a special court designated for NDPS cases.

The bail application by Sahil Zaroo, the other accused in the case, will be taken up by the Court for hearing on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a Metropolitan Magistrate recorded the statement of Karan Ahuja, a prosecution witness in the case.

Back to Safdarjung Road

Immediately upon his release from Tihar Central Jail at around 8 p.m., Rahul Mahajan headed straight for his late father's 7 Safdarjung Road residence where he was welcomed by his mother Rekha Mahajan, sister Poonam and uncle Gopinath Munde.

Rahul Mahajan was spirited out of the jail through a side exit to avoid media attention. At Safdarjung Road, celebrating his homecoming his relatives distributed sweets among the visitors. Though the family did not interact much with media, they informed that he would address the Press at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

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