That life can be a four-letter word is something that Rahul Mahajan will endorse. Earlier this year, he had everything that any young man would have asked for: a powerful father, money in the bank, if not under the bed, an assured future, and a pretty would-be wife.

The father — former Bharatiya Janata Party minister Pramod Mahajan — died in May this year. Probing questions are being asked about the money he left behind. The future, especially after Mahajan junior passed out while snorting cocaine at home and had to be hospitalised, is bleak. And the pretty daughter-in-law is being photographed with suspicious bruises on her arms.

No, life has not been treating Rahul Mahajan well. The latest in a series of disasters to have struck him is a news report that describes him as a wife beater. Mahajan has denied the report — which said it was based on an account presented by his wife, Shweta. And, yes, Shweta has rejected the report, too.

Rahul should be getting used to all the bad press that he has been getting. In his lifetime, Pramod Mahajan did his best to shield his errant son from the glare of the media. But that was no easy task, for Rahul was the proverbial brat who went astray when he was in the seventh standard at the Gyan Sadna school in Sion. On several occasions, Mahajan senior would, in private conversations, express concern over his son’s wayward ways.

But both the father and son got embroiled in what was called the Tak-dina-din case in the late Nineties. Rahul Mahajan had a film production house those days, and it reneged on a Doordarshan deal wherein they had to produce 26 episodes but left their job halfway. Rahul’s company ended up paying Rs 35 lakh as compensation.

Pramod Mahajan was then one of the rising stars of the BJP, and the son’s shenanigans were a trial to him. “Sabko malum tha ki weh bigde hua they (everybody knew they were spoilt),” says a BJP member about the Mahajan children — Rahul and his sister, Poonam. Efforts were made to put Rahul into the Nasik Military School and Pramod roped in his old friend, Popatrao Hire, to get him admitted into the prestigious school known for its disciplined and tough image. “But Popatrao Hire threw his hands up and declared that the admission won’t happen as the boy was already a gone case,” says a source.

Pramod Mahajan was not the man to give up either. The son had shown a liking for flying, and so, after his XIIth standard, Pramod got him enrolled in the Flying Institute in Indore. Eventually Rahul went to Texas to study flying and earned his commercial pilot’s flying licence there. It is also said that Pramod Mahajan bankrolled Shweta — whom he described as an adopted daughter those days — for the same course. Both Rahul and Shweta joined Jet Airways, but Rahul didn’t last there for long.

The BJP minister, who was the chief fund collector for the party, even went to the extent of investing money in IT parks in Hinjewadi in Pune, hoping that Rahul would show an interest in information technology. Rahul didn’t, and another career option was ruled out.

Every now and then, Pramod would send his son abroad. But an acquaintance recalls that Rahul had little to do there, and would spend his time in London looking for places where he could get his favourite food — dosas and vadas.

But Rahul, clearly, didn’t have an easy life either — growing up not just in his father’s shadow, but closely witnessing Pramod Mahajan’s own colourful life. Sources in the party say that Mahajan senior often had public brawls, and there were bitter fights between him and his wife. And then, of course, there was Pramod’s brother, Pravin, with whom he had a troublesome relationship. On several occasions, Pravin would angrily barge into the state BJP office at Mantralaya looking for “Pamya” — as he called Pramod. And, finally, in April this year, Pravin shot his brother. Mahajan died, and Pravin has been in jail since then.

You wouldn’t quite call it a normal family. In the midst of all the feuds, Rahul flirted with the Hindi film industry in Mumbai. He got involved in some projects, but ended up losing money. But it was a life that Rahul enjoyed. He made a few friends there and was said to be close to actress Pooja Batra.

For long years, though, nobody outside the BJP knew of Rahul Mahajan. Observers recall that the son first came into prominence in 1996. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been sworn in as the Prime Minister, but the BJP did not have a majority in Parliament. Mahajan senior was negotiating deals with other parties — a mission that he finally failed in — and son Rahul was always by his side. Two years later, though, the BJP was in power, Pramod was a minister — and Rahul was seen more than ever before.

The BJP has always been a bit wary of the errant son. When Pramod Mahajan died, his son reached the hospital in a luxury car. “Some party leaders were a little uncomfortable about all this,” says an observer.

Months later, the day before his father’s ashes were to start a journey across the country, Rahul Mahajan was found unconscious in Pramod’s government bungalow. Champagne bottles had been opened, and it was later found that he had taken cocaine. His father’s aide, Bibek Moitra, was with him, and died of an overdose. Under the relentless glare of the media, Rahul left a Delhi hospital after some days to announce that he was going to marry Shweta.

For some, that would have been a lifetime of media attention. For Rahul, it could just be the beginning.