Pramod Mahajan’s secretary dies, Rahul in intensive care unit

NEW DELHI: Pramod Mahajan’s son, Rahul was in serious condition in the Apollo Hospital while the late BJP leader’s Secretary Vivek Moitra died of suspected poisoning after a mysterious late night party in which “strangers” were believed to have been present.

The 26-year-old Rahul was in a serious but stable condition in the ICU on life support system with his vital parameters functioning normally.

“Whether the poisoning happened because of stale eatables or some poisonous substance was mixed with the food (they had) cannot be said at the moment,” spokesman of the hospital Karan Thakur said.

Mahajan’s long-time private secretary Moitra was brought dead at 3 am to the hospital, the spokesman said.

Police sources said they recovered some “white powder” from Rahul. It has been sent for forensic examination.

Investigators are trying to find out the identity of the three people who were said to have visited Rahul and Moitra at the late Mahajan’s official residence at 7 Safdarjung Road around 00.30 am and had partaken champagne with them before leaving in about 45 minutes.

Police said that domestic servants Ganesh and Anil told them about the presence of the three people who they did not know. The three returned later only to leave again once the two were rushed to the hospital.

“We are trying to ascertain the identity of the three and investigations are on in that direction,” Additional DCP Manish Aggarwal told reporters.

He said the scene of the incident was “disturbed” as the household staff had kept the champagne bottles and glasses in a cupboard and cleaned up the vomit of Rahul and Moitra from the floor.

Rahul’s uncle and senior BJP leader from Maharashtra Gopinath Munde rushed to the capital on hearing the news.

POLITICAL MOVES: A couple of days back, Mahajan participated in the BJP executive meeting and it was speculated that he may join the party following his father’s death.

Pramod Mahajan, who was the BJP’s general secretary, passed away on May 3, 2006, after being shot at by his brother Pravin Mahajan. He succumbed to his injuries after a 12-day fight for survival at Mumbai’s Hinduja hospital.

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