Court permits Rahul Mahajan to visit Maldives

New Delhi, March 9 : A city court Tuesday allowed Rahul Mahajan to leave the country to go on a honeymoon with his newly wedded wife.

Special judge J.P.S. Malik granted Rahul the permission and released his passport. But he will need to furnish a surety bond of Rs.500,000 and register his marriage within two months.

Clad in a blue shirt, Rahul who was in the court, appeared pleased with the decision.

He married Dimpy Ganguly on a TV reality show Sunday. Rahul, son of late senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, in his March 5 application had said he wanted to "go to the Maldives and Ireland for his honeymoon on March 9 and stay there till March 30".

Rahul's passport has been in the court's custody since his trial in a drug abuse case in 2006 and he was not allowed to leave the country without the court's permission.

Rahul and his father's secretary Vivek Moitra were admitted to Apollo Hospital here June 2, 2006, after they allegedly consumed contraband drugs laced with alcohol at Pramod Mahajan's then official residence at 7, Safdarjung Road. Moitra died in hospital.

Rahul was let off drug trafficking charges, which entail a harsher punishment, but was booked for consumption of banned drugs.