Rahul case: Five Apollo doctors to face action

Eleven employees, including five doctors, of Apollo Hospital will face criminal proceedings for destroying evidence in the Rahul Mahajan drug abuse case, reports Bhadra Sinha.

Eleven employees, including five doctors, of Apollo Hospital will face criminal proceedings for destroying evidence in the Rahul Mahajan drug abuse case. Turning down a plea by five doctors and six hospital staffers, the Supreme Court on Monday said it would not quash the criminal proceedings launched against them in the case.

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A bench of Justices AK Mathur and Aftab Alam directed the petitioners to approach the trial court for relief.

The eleven employees of the hospital had appealed against the Delhi High Court order that had in February this year rejected the petitioners’ submission to quash the charges against them on the ground that their name did not figure in the main FIR registered at Tuglaq Road police station.

The second FIR against the Apollo staffers was registered after the police had learnt that they had allegedly tampered with the documents to save Mahajan. Apollo doctors had allegedly given a report stating that the toxic screen of Mahajan was negative. Contrary to the doctor’s opinion, the CFSL report had clearly established that both Rahul and Vivek Moitra (who died in the hospital) had consumed morphin (heroin) and cocaine on the fateful night.

In their appeal before the Supreme Court, the Apollo staffers have alleged that the investigation in the second FIR was mala fide as SHO, Tughlak Road, was already investigating into the main case and the investigations launched against them by the Sarita Vihar police was “discriminatory” and “arbitrary” in nature.

Rahul Mahajan, son of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, was admitted to the hospital on June one, 2006 following alleged drug consumption. His father’s private secretary, Vivek Moitra, however, died of drug overdose. He was declared dead by Apollo hospital.