From correspondents in India, 12:30 PM IST

June 2, 2006, a Friday, dawned on Delhi like any other day. By breakfast time, however, TV channels were breaking the story of Rahul Mahajan's nightly misadventure. Rahul, the young scion of late Pramod Mahajan, the BJP star whom former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee literally catapulted to a position of pre-eminence by calling him a 'Laxman', was battling for life after allegedly consuming drugs. In the middle of the night, Rahul and Bibek Moitra - the dead BJP leader's former aide - had been moved unconscious to Apollo Hospital from 7 Safdarjang Road, the official residence of the deceased leader still in the possession of the Mahajan family. By afternoon Moitra was dead, Rahul was critical but stable, and the nation abuzz with the shocking tale of booze, drugs and trips in high places. Over the days that followed, skeletons after skeletons have tumbled out of cupboards hitherto hidden - only whispered about in corridors, as just the ways of those powerful, the impregnable high and mighty. The first to be arrested was Sahil Zarru, a Kashmiri who allegedly procured drugs that night. Following him was Nigerian Abdullah, the main source for the drug, and two other Nigerians. Finally Rahul too arrested for drug consumption, even as he recuperated at the Apollo hospital. To recapitulate the sequence of events: barely weeks after his father's death, and while on his way to Assam to immerse the ashes in the Brahmaputra, Rahul Mahajan and Moitra indulge in a binge at the bungalow - a champagne party, with three other friends: Sahil, Karan Ahuja and Rahul Malhotra. As disclosed by two house servants who helped investigators piece the story together, Rahul and Bibek regularly had such booze parties, the plush bathroom mostly being the scene of secret rendezvous. Often Rahul would sip his champagne in the Jacuzzi with Moitra sitting on a chair beside. By the time the two went to the TV room where the others were present, Rahul appeared in an inebriated state telling Moitra he had thrown up, as he had had too much. It was 10.30 p.m. and Rahul Malhotra leaves. Soon, Moitra accuses Sahil of having supplied impotent stuff and asks him to fetch the genuine substance. Sahil leaves with Karan, contacts another friend, Trishay Khanna. Trishay was at PVR Saket, watching a movie with his girlfriend. Sahil dropped Karan and picked up Trishay. They are supposed to have procured drugs from some Nigerians who are now being questioned. Back in the house, Moitra, Rahul and Sahil take the substance and immediately start feeling sick. Sahil leaves with Trishay, goes to Spring Meadows hospital in East of Kailash and gets himself treated. The servants find Moitra and Rahul lying unconscious and inform the dead Mahajan's other aide, Harish Sharma. The servants assist Sharma to take Rahul and Moitra to hospital. Both are driven to Apollo - not to the nearby AIIMS or Safdarjung Hospital. According to Pramod Mahajan's close associate Sudanshu Mittal, 'who would trust a government hospital in an emergency?' While AIIMS, which did postmortem on Moitra's body, confirmed death due to an overdose of drug usage and the CFSL has declared the 'substance' to be heroin, Apollo hospital is on the mat for attempting to hush up the matter by rushing to the media declaring no signs of drugs found in Rahul's blood and urine sample. The BJP is distancing itself from the episode saying it is a family matter. Rahul's uncle and former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde has lost no time to scream the conspiracy theory alleging a sinister plot to kill Rahul. And the ever-indulgent Vajpayee deems it necessary to philosophically pontificate in respect of his favourite Laxman's son, that such things do happen among the young when they fall into wrong company! The BJP is expected to guide him on the right path! One wonders whether this will be done before or after the imminent jail sentence that's looming large for young Rahul. Police sources unofficially reveal that Rahul Mahajan had a history of drug abuse. They are trying to ascertain this with concrete evidence. Which brings us once again to the issue of 'high profile' cases in which the accused are either persons wielding influence or related to persons exercising power. The print media recently documented several such cases in New Delhi, Mumbai and elsewhere. This case is typically symptomatic of the dark side of the rich and powerful and their spoilt brats who party with gay abandon - ever on a high on cocaine, heroin, ecstasy or acid that's readily available. A reporter of a TV channel penetrated the drug-and-party circle in New Delhi to show how easily drugs are accessible in the city. There have been many incidents littered in the recent past of how actors, politicos and businessmen have been caught and then somehow they get back to their nefarious ways. It would be appropriate for judicial activists and our apex court to crusade in this matter to find out why they do not get booked, to make an example of them, to be a deterrent to others whom the supposed long arm of the law has not touched yet. (Maxwell Pereira is a former joint commissioner of Delhi Police. He can be contacted at mfjpkamath@gmail.com)

(Staff Writer, © IANS)