06-04-2006, 10:48 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Foul play in Rahul case: Mumbai cop</b>
<i>Top cop coordinating with Delhi police says investigations point towards a premeditated act, and that the drug packet bought by Maitra had been already marked</i>
S HUSSAIN ZAIDI
<b>A top-ranking officer of the Mumbai police told this newspaper that rather than a case of accident, the death of Pramod Mahajan's secretary Vivek Maitra and the illness of his son Rahul was the result of a premeditated act.</b>
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the officer who has been collaborating with Delhi police on investigation into the June 1 incident, said that the drug packet to be delivered to Maitra and Mahajan had been marked beforehand and that 21-year-old St Xavier's student Sahil Zaroo who admitted to buying the drug at Maitra's behest was a mere conduit.
Independent investigation also revealed that less than a week before his death Vivek Maitra who was locked in a financial dispute had threatened a powerful lobby with a tell-all press conference.
Contradicting the drug overdose theory, the Mumbai cop said: <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>"The cocktail of drug and champagne is termed as duet in the swish set and is rampant. The DCP from Delhi who is coordinating with me has said that if this were the cause of Maitra's death, half of Delhi's party circuit would be dead,"</span> he added.
Aslam Goni the lawyer of Maitra and Mahajan's friend Sahil Zaroo who was arrested in Srinagar on Saturday afternoon told this newspaper that Maitra had called a drug peddler named Rajendra from 7 Safdarjung Road and asked him to hand over the packet, believed to be cocaine, to Zaroo. "Sahil was not aware of the content of the packet, that's for the cops to investigate," Goni told this reporter on phone from Srinagar.
Zaroo, who befriended Maitra in Mumbai, was given Rs 15,000 to handover to the dealer in exchange for the packet.
According to the Mumbai police officer, habitual drug users have a regular peddler to ensure safety and possibly "whoever finally handed over the packet to Zaroo was well aware of his connections with Maitra and could have passed on a tampered-with consignment," says the officer.
"If a person is habituated to one particular poison he may not show the same symptoms even if they slightly exceed consumption," says MY Yeolekar, dean of Sion hospital, "But if they change the substance it may lead to symptoms identical (being delirious, cardiac problems and breathlessness) to those who are not generally habituated to it or in a classic case of overdose," he added.
If true, this would bear out the Mahajan family's claim of foul play. Rahul Mahajan's uncle Gopinath Munde in fact met Home Minister Shivraj Patil at 1 pm on Saturday to request a probe into the conspiracy angle.
While a case has been registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against "unknown persons" in Delhi, it is learnt that sleuths from Narcotics Control Bureau will be questioning Rahul Mahajan today and that may lead to some light on one of the most mysterious stories in recent times.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
All ministers, well connected press journalist and Embassy staff must be sweating now.
<i>Top cop coordinating with Delhi police says investigations point towards a premeditated act, and that the drug packet bought by Maitra had been already marked</i>
S HUSSAIN ZAIDI
<b>A top-ranking officer of the Mumbai police told this newspaper that rather than a case of accident, the death of Pramod Mahajan's secretary Vivek Maitra and the illness of his son Rahul was the result of a premeditated act.</b>
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the officer who has been collaborating with Delhi police on investigation into the June 1 incident, said that the drug packet to be delivered to Maitra and Mahajan had been marked beforehand and that 21-year-old St Xavier's student Sahil Zaroo who admitted to buying the drug at Maitra's behest was a mere conduit.
Independent investigation also revealed that less than a week before his death Vivek Maitra who was locked in a financial dispute had threatened a powerful lobby with a tell-all press conference.
Contradicting the drug overdose theory, the Mumbai cop said: <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>"The cocktail of drug and champagne is termed as duet in the swish set and is rampant. The DCP from Delhi who is coordinating with me has said that if this were the cause of Maitra's death, half of Delhi's party circuit would be dead,"</span> he added.
Aslam Goni the lawyer of Maitra and Mahajan's friend Sahil Zaroo who was arrested in Srinagar on Saturday afternoon told this newspaper that Maitra had called a drug peddler named Rajendra from 7 Safdarjung Road and asked him to hand over the packet, believed to be cocaine, to Zaroo. "Sahil was not aware of the content of the packet, that's for the cops to investigate," Goni told this reporter on phone from Srinagar.
Zaroo, who befriended Maitra in Mumbai, was given Rs 15,000 to handover to the dealer in exchange for the packet.
According to the Mumbai police officer, habitual drug users have a regular peddler to ensure safety and possibly "whoever finally handed over the packet to Zaroo was well aware of his connections with Maitra and could have passed on a tampered-with consignment," says the officer.
"If a person is habituated to one particular poison he may not show the same symptoms even if they slightly exceed consumption," says MY Yeolekar, dean of Sion hospital, "But if they change the substance it may lead to symptoms identical (being delirious, cardiac problems and breathlessness) to those who are not generally habituated to it or in a classic case of overdose," he added.
If true, this would bear out the Mahajan family's claim of foul play. Rahul Mahajan's uncle Gopinath Munde in fact met Home Minister Shivraj Patil at 1 pm on Saturday to request a probe into the conspiracy angle.
While a case has been registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against "unknown persons" in Delhi, it is learnt that sleuths from Narcotics Control Bureau will be questioning Rahul Mahajan today and that may lead to some light on one of the most mysterious stories in recent times.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
All ministers, well connected press journalist and Embassy staff must be sweating now.