Rahul Mahajan came into the news when his father was shot by his own brother and struggled for his life for twelve days before succumbing. Television footage showed him comforting his sister and mother and maintaining a stoic demeanour. There were rumours that Mahajan would be inducted into the BJP to follow his father's footsteps.

However, exactly a month after his father's death on June 3, 2006, Mahajan was hospitalized after an alleged cocaine overdose. His father's secretary, Bibek Maitra was also rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. The two had imbibed a cocktail of drugs along with champagne. Mahajan recovered, but on his discharge from hospital on June 6 2006, he was arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of drug possession and consumption.

In August 2006, Rahul married Shweta Singh, someone whom he had known for 13 years. They were in flying school together in the US, and also flew for the Indian airline Jet Airways, where Rahul had worked for two years as a co-pilot. After that he became a consultant with an American company. During the tenure of National Democratic Alliance government he set up Integral Productions, a company that produced a programme called Tak Dhina Dhin for Doordarshan.

The marriage was reportedly on rocks for sometime with serious allegation of beating that Rahul meted out to his new wife and Shweta filed for divorce on 13-Dec-2007 on grounds of incompatibility and mutual consent of both parties.