In a development in connection with the Sunanda Pushkar murder case, Hotel leela Palace administration has moved an application before a Delhi court seeking permission for opening room number 345, which was sealed after Pushkar was found dead under mysterious circumstances.
The hotel plea comes at a time when it has been alleged that the body of Pushkar was moved from room number 307 to 345.
The Delhi Police is likely to oppose the plea as they think that some forensic evidence can be collected still from the room.
The plea has been moved before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma.
The hotel administration has said that room number 345 has remained sealed off for almost over two-and-a-half years and hence they want to open it for the public consumption.
However, the Delhi Police has so far not given any reply on the plea. On the next date of hearing of the case, the court will hear the submission of the Delhi Police and the counsel of the hotel.
After listening to the submission of both the sides, the court will decide whether to grant permission to leela Palace Hotel administration to open room number 345 or not.
The Delhi Police’s Special Investigating Team (SIT), which is probing the murder case, is not willing to say much when contacted regarding the matter.
“The investigation is pending. We will file reply in the court after discussing the matter with our legal panel. We know that the hotel administration has moved a plea, but we can’t divulge more information,” said a senior police official, on conditions of anonymity.
On January 17, 2014, Pushkar, wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at leela Palace in New Delhi’s Chanakyapuri, a day after she had a spat on Twitter with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.
On January 16, Pushkar had tweeted some material which hinted to a possible romantic liaison between Tharoor and Tarar.
The Delhi Police had questioned Tharoor reportedly over 60 times in connection with the Pushkar murder case. The police had also conducted polygraph test on six people after getting court permission but failed to get any lead in the case.
The autopsy report of Pushkar had hinted that she had died of an overdose of sleeping pills. However, the report was inconclusive as to how she died and whether it was a suicide.
It was only after AIIMS doctors failed to detect any poisonous substance the samples were handed over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington.