20 December,2009 08:27 AM IST | | Vinod Kumar Menon and Ketan Ranga
NRI hotelier Vikram Chatwal recently completed a rehab stint to quit drugs at a quiet Byculla hospital
NRI business tycoon Vikram Chatwal, once named as one of the richest Indians and whose wedding guests included steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and former US president Bill Clinton, spent a hush-hush month getting over his narco fix in a nondescript Byculla rehab home.
While the treating doctors were tight-lipped about Chatwal visit, Sunday MiD DAY found that the hotelier was indeed treated at the hospital. He spent his rehabilitation days in the deluxe room no 1131 on the third floor of the hospital's nursing home (Bai Serenebai M Banajee Memorial Wing). Chatwal currently owns and runs five luxury boutique hotels in New York and Bangkok, and has acted in the Bollywood movies Ek Ajnabee and Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.
Deluxe room
The hospital record shows that Chatwal was admitted on November 8, 2009 as an indoor patient (vide number 1903179) and was discharged on December 18, 2009 at 6.30 pm. Internal sources revealed that the deluxe room where Chatwal was admitted was a luxury room measuring nearly 200 sq feet with an attached toilet andu00a0 bathroom. The air-conditioned room also had a television and refrigerator. Chatwal paid an approximate Rs 3,000 per day for the room. Chatwal, who was married to Delhi model Priya Sachdev in a highly-publicised extravagant wedding in 2005, was not accompanied by his wife.
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The Masina hospital at Byculla. Chatwal stayed at the nursing home Bai Serenebai M Banajee memorial wing |
'He was polite'
Surprisingly, most staffers, including nurses and ward boys, were unaware of his high stature. A ward boy said, "He was polite and never asked for any favour (like cigarettes) and before he left the ward, I got a tip of Rs 50 from him."
A nurse, on the condition of anonymity, revealed, "Chatwal used to attend the sessions regularly, and we fail to understand why suddenly after he left the hospital, people have started enquiring about his visit. He was like any other patient for us."
However, the hospital is in a denial mode about Chatwal's stay at rehab. Dr Matcheswala flatly denied that he had ever treated any person named Vikram Chatwal.
According to film industry sources, this is not the first time that Chatwal has attended any rehabilitation programme.
"Chatwal was earlier admitted to fancy rehabilitation centers in US many times. However, in this case, his parents wanted him to go into hard-core rehab and a lot of people think that they had put him in a good hospital (Masina). Few of his Page 3 friends had even visited him during his stay. He preferred Mumbai because he is not a known face here compared to the US, where he would have been recognised immediately and come under media glare," the source said.
Numerous attempts to contact Chatwal on his mobile did not yield any result.
| Why rehab in Mumbai? |
| According to advocate Vikram Varma, who deals with foreign nationals involved in drug abuse here, they (foreigners) prefer India because they can be discreet about their identities. "The addict is in a new environment, away from everyone who could take him back to the world he wants to get rid of. Also, pressure from suppliers makes it difficult for him to give up narcotics." When inquired if laws were stringent in foreign countries that dealt with people visiting rehabilitation centres, Varma said, "No, addicts are looked upon as victims" rather than those who sell narcotics and psychotropic substances, who are viewed in a far more strict manner by governments all over the world. |
| 400 million dollars approx |
| What hotelier Vikram Chatwal is reportedly worth, according to financial papers, going by his group of luxury hotels. The American hotelier, a graduate from Wharton School, worked in his father Sant Singh Chatwal's hotels as a garbage man at the age of 12. In 1999, at the age of 28, he launched Vikram Chatwal Hotels, a group with five hotels, beginning with Dream Hotel in Manhattan. |
| India's most extravagant wedding |
| In 2005, Chatwal married Delhi-based model Priya Sachdev at a bash labelled 'The big fat Sikh wedding' by the media, that was later made into a TV documentary. His guests included longtime friend Bill Clinton, Lakshmi Mittal and Prince Nikolaos of Greece. The couple has a three-year-old daughter. Rumours floated around early this year that Chatwal's marriage was in trouble after reports of him being linked to a Bollywood actress broke out. The couple denied the stories. |
| Mai Mumbai show |
| Earlier this year, Vikram Chatwal organised a charity event at the Lakme Fashion Week towards the victims of 26/11. Titled Mai Mumbai, Chatwal got friends like supermodel Naomi Campbell, Arjun Rampal and Mehr Jesia to walk the ramp. The proceeds from the show contributed to paramedical services in the city. In an interview to Sunday MiD DAY at the time of the Mai Mumbai show six months ago, Chatwal confessed, "I have changed over time. Marriage and a child have sobered me down; not too much though. I do things differently because when you have a child, you just kind of mature through life. But that kiddie boy in me will always be there. That's how Scorpios are. There is no going easy there." |
