Congress MP calls for professional investigation by police without any political pressure
Congress MP and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor on Friday called for a “fair, impartial and professional probe without any political pressure” into the death of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar. Addressing the media for the first time after the Delhi Police termed Sunanda’s death as murder, Tharoor said, “I am not going to engage in public polemics on what has been a very, very painful tragedy.”
He was talking to the media at the Perumbayil Mana Ayurvedic Resort near Guruvayur in Kerala. Describing himself as a “bereaved husband”, Tharoor said, “I had a number of questions, a number of concerns over the way the investigation appears to have been conducted so far,” adding that he would cooperate fully with the police in the investigation because “What I want to know is the truth.”
The former Union Minister said that he had written a detailed letter to the Delhi Police Commissioner requesting him to look into his concerns and take it up with his investigating team. “This (probe) should be done professionally, without political pressure or political considerations… There should be a free and impartial enquiry,” Tharoor added.
Stating that he did not expect his wife’s death to be a case of murder, the Congress MP said that he had pledged full support to the police to solve whatever mystery was behind it. “There is no reason for anyone to have done any harm to her. But I have pledged full support to the police for them to get to the bottom of the case,” he said.
Tharoor’s meeting with the Press did not last more than seven minutes and he refused to respond to any queries from the newsmen who had been waiting at the Ayurvedic resort since Tuesday to get his response on the registration of FIR by the Delhi Police under Section 302 of the IPC in connection with Sunanda’s death.
“I had issued a statement (on Tuesday). I stand by my statement. That is all I am going to say,” he said at the very beginning of his address to the Press. Hours after the registration of a murder case over Sunanda’s death, Tharoor had said in the statement that he was stunned by the development and expressed his concerns over the development.
Criticising the media sharply, Tharoor said his silence for the past year over his wife’s death had been described as sinister. “My silence was not sinister. I have been very, very silent despite provocations, because an investigation is going on and it is my duty not to undermine or compromise that inquiry by something which I say in public,” he said.
Projecting himself as a victim of distortion of facts and ‘outright lies’, Tharoor said, “I am not going to engage in public debates for the sake of TRPs. My interest as a bereaved husband is to find out what happened to my wife and why it happened…I would like the natter to progress in a way that gives us closure on Sunanda’s demise and justice for all.”
The Congress MP said he was completely taken aback by the decision of the Delhi Police to file an FIR against unknown persons in a case of murder in relation to Sunanda’s death. “I was completely taken aback because none of us in the family had any reason to believe that any foul play could have been involved in her death,” he said.