Ewa Beach man charged in fatal fentanyl overdose

An Ewa Beach man who allegedly supplied and smoked fentanyl with his friend who died from the high is being prosecuted in federal court for possession with intent to distribute.

Rajesh Bhatti, aka Ryan, made his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday. Bhatti’s detention hearing is scheduled for Friday at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield.

“With the entry of new and terrifying foes into our ongoing war on drugs, the Department of Justice is committed to bringing all persons responsible for providing drugs that result in a fatality into the criminal justice system,” U.S. Attorney Clare Connors told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser in a statement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Silverberg is prosecuting the case for the government. Bhatti’s attorney Max Mizono did not immediately reply to Star-Advertiser requests for comment.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Honolulu police are conducting a “criminal investigation into Rajesh Bhatti and other identified and unidentified subjects” regarding the distribution of fentanyl and conspiracy, according to federal court documents.

On Aug. 7 Honolulu police officers responded to a home on Olowa Street in Ewa Beach for a suspected overdose and found Kaiser Dayuha, who was declared dead at about 7:25 a.m. by Emergency Medical Services technicians.

Officers interviewed Dayuha’s brother, Jared, who allegedly told officers that he drove his brother and Bhatti, whom he described as a friend, to the Ala Moana area at about 1 a.m. Aug. 7 where Bhatti and Kaiser Dayuha smoked fentanyl from foil.

Kaiser Dayuha passed out after smoking, his brother told police, and Jared thought he was sleeping when they drove back to Ewa Beach. Bhatti left and Jared left his brother in the car when he got home, checked on him at 4 a.m. and thought he was still sleeping.

Their mother found Kaiser’s body at 6 a.m. and called 911.

In an interview with police, Bhatti allegedly said a friend gave him “some stuff” and he and Kaiser smoked it. Bhatti described the substance as “white, rockish … looked like crack honestly” but denied he knew what the substance was, according to the criminal complaint.

He told officers Kaiser was “chilling” when they started driving back to Ewa Beach and that he kept checking on him “making sure he was breathing … that’s the main thing … he was breathing on the way home,” according to the criminal complaint. Bhatti allegedly told officers he last saw Kaiser at 2:30 a.m. and that his friend was “nodding out but breathing … heard him breathing, checked his pulse …”

According to medical examiner and toxicology reports, Kaiser had fentanyl, cannabis and Naloxone, a commercial form of Narcan, in his system. According to the EMS report, Narcan was not administered at the scene and Kaiser’s mother said she didn’t give him any.

On Oct. 3, DEA agents interviewed Jared Dayuha, who allegedly told them he’s known Bhatti for a decade and that he is a drug dealer who he bought Xanax, spice and cannabis from. He told agents he drove his brother and Bhatti 15 times to pick up fentanyl. The night his brother died, Bhatti told Jared they were going to buy fentanyl and that he watched Bhatti and his brother smoke a pill before, according to the complaint.

Jared identified Bhatti in a photo lineup. On Nov. 2 Jared allegedly told DEA agents and Silverberg that Bhatti administered Narcan to his brother the night he died.

Bhatti administered the Narcan immediately before exiting the vehicle and entering Bhatti’s home, according to the criminal complaint. Jared Dayuha allegedly admitted lying to investigators previously about denying knowledge about Narcan being administered because he was scared.

In an affidavit accompanying the complaint, a DEA task force officer wrote that he knows from “training and experience that when an individual succumbs to an overdose from fentanyl, they initially go unconscious, their pulse becomes weak, and their breathing slows and eventually stops.”

The officer also recognized that Naloxone is a medicine that reverses an opioid overdose, and that fentanyl users are known to carry Narcan (the brand name for a nasal spray that sprays Naloxone) to counteract an overdose, according to court records.

Bhatti allegedly knew Kaiser Dayuha overdosed and attempted to reverse it by using Narcan, according to court records.