Police on Monday night put Rahul Mahajan through sustained interrogation after taking him on a two-day remand on charges of consumption and possession of drugs, and confronted him with Sahil Zaroo, who allegedly supplied him with narcotics last Thursday night.
In another development, forensic reports confirmed presence of heroin in blood sample of Rahul and vomit of Sahil, while police was still awaiting viscera report of late Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan's aide Vivek Maitra, who died after a late night party at the Mahajan residence.
Amidst high drama, 31-year-old Rahul was wheeled away by police in tight security shortly after he was discharged from the Apollo Hospital, where he was admitted after the party in a critical condition. He was later produced before Metropolitan Magistrate A K Chaturvedi who remanded him to two days custody after the police claimed he had admitted in his disclosure statement to have consumed drugs, besides having "given" narcotics to others.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi district) Manish Agrawal said the investigation in the case was at a preliminary stage and police want to question Rahul about the "whole episode and what happened after that if he (Rahul) knows about it." He said police had found evidence to prove that Maitra, Rahul and Sahil had consumed drugs at the residence of late BJP leader on June 1.
"Sahil and Rahul have been arrested, while Maitra died of drug consumption. We have established that all three of them had consumed drugs," he said.
Police questioned doctors of Apollo Hospital in its bid to understand the sequence of events and the exact medical condition of Rahul when he was admitted. They were also quizzed about the line of treatment for Rahul and the standard operating procedures in treatment of drug abuse cases.
The doctors were also asked about the reason behind their decision to make Rahul's medical test records public when the matter was under investigation. Initially, doctors at Apollo had said that Rahul had tested negative for drugs, but examination of urine and blood samples by a private pathological lab showed traces of a cocktail of drugs.
Harish Sharma, Pramod Mahajan's key aide was interrogated for the third consecutive day for his alleged role in disturbing evidence at the scene of the incident. Police believe Sharma had ordered cleaning up of the room after the party, which was attended by Karan Ahuja, Tishay Khanna and Rahul Malhotra besides Sahil Zaroo, who, according to the police, procured drugs for Rahul and Maitra.
He is likely to be charged with destruction of evidence. Police have not arrested or detained Karan, Tishay and Rahul, but have issued them legal notices directing them to the present for questioning as and when required.
Rahul's counsel Sunil Mittal claimed in court that the charges levelled by the police were vague and attacked them for reluctance to come clean over the quantity of drugs involved.
In the wake of the drug abuse case, the Rajya Sabha House Committee said it was considering cancelling the three-month extension granted to the Mahajan family to live in the house following the death of the BJP member in April.
Rahul and Sahil were taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for a routine medical check up. Police sources said the medical tests were being carried out as per the court directive.