Almost a year after the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar — wife of former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor — in a star hotel in the national Capital, the Delhi Police on Tuesday registered a case of murder against unknown persons. Earlier Sunanda Pushkar’s autopsy report had pointed to unnatural death due to poisoning on January 17, 2014.
Sunanda’s death came close on the heels of a bitter altercation between the couple over Shashi Tharoor’s alleged affair with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar. Ruling out it to be case of suicide, Special Commissioner of Police Deepak Mishra said, “It is a case of homicidal poisoning.” Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi on Tuesday said that all those connected to the case, including Shashi Tharoor, will be questioned.
On being asked about the delay in registering the case, the Delhi Police Commissioner said the medical report the police got initially was “interim”. “Now they (doctors) have given us some conclusions on the basis of available information. So on the basis of that report, it was necessary to file a case and proceed further in the probe,” said Bassi. The report has not given a definitive conclusion about how poison was present in the body but it has suggested possibility of injection having been administered, he said. “No one has been named in the FIR as an accused,” said the Commissioner.
It may be recalled that AIIMS Forensic Department’s head Dr Sudhir Gupta had claimed to have been abortively pressurised to manipulate the post-mortem report. The second post-mortem report issued by AIIMS had stated the presence of poisonous substance in Sunanda’s body. But as the substance could not be detected properly, AIIMS had recommended forensic examination. “Among the 15 injury marks found on the body of Sunanda, injury number 10 is associated with an injection mark,” stated the medical report.
Earlier, the Delhi Police was unable to send the sample abroad as the case was being probed under Section 174 of the CrPc which required letter rogatory for advanced forensic examination in foreign countries. Now, the Delhi Police has decided to send the samples abroad for examination to ascertain the cause of death, added the Police Commissioner. And for this, it was legally required to register a case. Since Sunanda-Tharoor marriage was less than seven years old, an SDM is probing the case.
Bassi claimed that investigators did not take long to file the case as a proper investigation was required which was done. “There are many things in the investigation. But I cannot reveal anything before I reach a conclusion,” he said.