Shweta, Rahul Mahajan told to live apart for six months

GURGAON: Son of the late Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan and his wife Shweta were on Thursday asked by a court here to live separately for six months before they get a divorce.

Citing her husband's violent behaviour, Shweta in December last year filed a divorce petition in the sessions court. The sessions judge asked the couple to think about it and decide after six months if they still wanted a divorce.

The matter has been posted to the first week of August.

After knowing each other for 13 years, Rahul and Shweta got married on Aug 29, 2006, barely four months after the murder of Pramod Mahajan by his younger brother.

Media reports showing a bruised Shweta were then denied.

There were also reports that Shweta had left Mumbai to join her parents in Dehradun months after the marriage and was keen on a divorce even then.

However, Rahul was unwilling as that could adversely affect his political ambitions. But she decided to take the major step as things seemed to be getting out of hand, sources close to Shweta said.

Rahul and Shweta had completed their flying course together in the US.

With the latest development, Rahul has courted controversy yet again.

He was hospitalised after an alleged cocaine overdose at his father's official residence in New Delhi on June 2, 2006. Pramod Mahajan's secretary Bibek Moitra died after the drug binge.

Rahul was arrested by Delhi Police on charges of drug possession and consumption and has an ongoing criminal case against him.