Mahajan's son serious, aide dead

The two had attended a party at Mahajan's Delhi house along with 3 persons

The BJP woke up to yet another tragedy on Friday morning when late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan's son Rahul and his long-time secretary Vivek Moitra were rushed to Apollo Hospital after a suspected poisoning.

While Mahajan is reported to be on life support but stable, Moitra was declared dead on arrival by Apollo doctors, ostensibly due to a heart attack.

Preliminary police investigation into the suspected food poisoning of Rahul Mahajan, and the death of his secretary Moitra is centered around three persons who had visited his residence, 7 Safdarjung Road, late last night.

The trio, accompanied by their lawyers, surrendered at the mandir marg police station in central delhi at around 10.30 pm.

The police said the trio in their twenties, identified as Rahul, Tishay and Karan, visited the house twice in the night and allegedly had champagne with Mahajan and Moitra.

The police interrogation of the three persons was on till late into the night.

Mumbai resident Sahil, who replaced one of the trio in the second visit and allegedly brought a packet along with the two, remained untraced.

Additional DCP, New Delhi, Manish Aggarwal said the police had recovered "some white powder" in a polythene from the scene and had sent it for chemical examination.

"It is a very small sample and details about it would be known only after chemical examination," he added. The police suspect that the white substance might be cocaine, and that this could well be a case of drug overdose.

While the theory might hold good for Mahajan, Moitra who was a diabetes and blood pressure patient had no known drug use history.

The police also suspect that this could have something to do with the late Pramod Mahajan's fund raising activities for the BJP.

"Only Moitra and Harish Sharma (Mahajan's other secretary) have been privy to such confidential information, and Moitra's death in such mysterious circumstances leads one to suspect these motives behind the death," said a top police source.

The police also feel that Moitra's death and Mahajan's near-death lends a totally new light to late Pramod Mahajan's shooting by his brother. "There could be a link, although it is too early to say," said a source.

Mahajan's uncle, senior BJP leader of Maharashtra Gopinath Munde, has however refused to draw a link. "It is too early to say," he said.

BJP leaders appeared shocked and did not know how to react to the news. Party President Rajnath Singh deferred his departure to Hyderabad to visit Mahajan in hospital.

"This is a sad event for the party, but I would not like to comment on anything else," he said.