Lawyer to meet Rahul for one hour

A Delhi court on Wednesday allowed Rahul Mahajan's counsel to meet him for an hour in the evening.

But the court refused to entertain a plea that a doctor and a lawyer be present throughout the remaining duration of his police custody.

The court had on Tuesday sent him to police custody for two days.

The police arrested Rahul on Monday after registering a case against him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Rahul was on life support after a late-night drinking binge on June 1.

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Metropolitan Magistrate A K Chaturvedi permitted Sunil Mittal and Harsh Khanna to meet late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan's son at the Tughlaq Road Police Station between 1900 and 2000 IST on Wednesday evening.

Rahul will be produced in court on Thursday, when his police custody ends.

The court similarly allowed counsel Manoj Taneja to meet his client Sahil Zaroo between 1800 and 1900 IST everyday till June 12, when his police custody comes to an end.

However, it refused to entertain an application filed on Rahul's behalf, apprehending ill treatment by investigating officials and requesting the presence of a doctor and a lawyer throughout his custodial interrogation.

Observing that such permission would defeat the very purpose of police remand, the court said that such presence of was 'neither permissible nor desirable throughout custody'.

During arguments, appearing for the prosecution, counsel B S Joon had opposed the defence application on grounds that any such order would hamper investigations.

Joon also pointed out that Rahul, on his production in court, had at no point suggested that the police mistreated him.

In a related development, the late BJP leader's key aide Harish Sharma and his driver Ganesh, accused of destruction of evidence in the drug abuse case, were granted bail for personal bonds of Rs 50,000 each and surety of like amount.