Agencies
 
New Delhi, Jan 14: Two of India’s most powerful politicians are helping the Mahajan family fight the case for Rahul Mahajan.

Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani are now advising the family on how to get bail for the son of their party’s third most charismatic — and recently murdered — leader, Pramod Mahajan.

Pramod Mahajan’s brother-in-law Gopinath Munde, son-in-law Anand Rao, and wife Rekha had a long talk with former prime minister Vajpayee and former home minister Advani, on Sunday evening.

After their consultations, the family changed its defence lawyers and handed over the Rahul case to former additional solicitor-general K K Sud, and advocate Surya Khatri.

Sud and Khatri are considered close to the BJP and their appointment has added political muscle to the Rahul defence.

While the family talked with the BJP top guns, earlier counsel for Rahul, Sunil Mittal, sat waiting for instructions on the Delhi police plea for change of court, sources said. Many in the BJP believe Rahul is being targeted unfairly as he is Pramod Mahajan’s son.

Its top leaders have repeatedly asserted that the law must take its own course, but they are determined to do all they can to make sure the inquiry is fair.

“Somebody wants to take revenge against Pramod Mahajan by torturing his son,” Khatri said, soon after taking over the case.

However, the change in the legal team failed to benefit Rahul as it could not stall the transfer of the case to a special court under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Accepting a review petition filed by the Delhi police challenging the jurisdiction of metropolitan magistrates in trying such offences, Additional Sessions Judge N K Gupta yesterday directed transfer of all files, including Rahul’s bail application, to a designated court.

Legal experts say trial under the NDPS Act is a serious setback as Section 37 lays down barriers to the provision of bail.

The advantage gained by the defence team in the form of the Metropolitan Magistrate’s order of June 9, which had raised serious questions about the police investigations, has now been diluted. Rahul’s bail application was to come up for hearing on Tuesday.