Despite joint statement issued by Union Minister Shashi Tharoor and his wife Sunanda Pushkar following his alleged affair with a Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, all was not well between the couple.
They had been quarrelling and got into scuffles at times for the past one week ever since the Twitter war surfaced. The Minister and his wife had a heated argument on Thursday night as well and the next day, her lifeless body was found in hotel in her bed.
In his statement recorded before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), the victim’s caretaker, Narayan, on Friday night told the judicial officer that on Thursday night also, both had an ugly spat over his alleged relationship with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, which went till 4.30 on Friday morning. After which Tharoor retired on a sofa in the drawing room and Pushkar started talking to someone over the phone. The caretaker also said that injury marks on the body of Pushkar may be an outcome of a physical struggle.
On Friday night, SDM has recorded the statement of both the employees of Sunanda Pushkar and they were later grilled by Delhi Police. Police have also questioned Shashi Tharoor as well.
Narayan said Pushkar was deeply disturbed due to the development and had not taken meals for the last five days. She had ordered chicken soup along with khichri on January 16 night, but had not eaten the same. She was only drinking coconut water and was constantly popping sleeping pills and smoking regularly. It was also stated she would wake up at night and sleep through the day after taking sleeping pills. Investigators have found some strips of Alprax from the scene.
Sources said the caretaker, Narayan, is a native of Rajasthan and he was working for Sunanda Pushkar for the last four years. At all times, he accompanied Pushkar. “I had gone along with the couple to Thiruvananthapuram where they got into a heated argument over Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar. She was later hospitalised at Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) for three days. We later returned on January 15 afternoon but on the way, they again started fighting and she was angry with him,” Narayan told the SDM on Friday night.
In his statement, Narayan told the SDM that after returning to Delhi Airport, Pushkar went inside the washroom and did not return for 20 minutes. “Initially, Mr Tharoor was waiting for her, but 20 minutes later when she didn’t turn up, he told me he had to attend a meeting and left. later, Mrs Tharoor came out of the washroom and we headed straight to leela Palace in Chanakyapuri,” he said, adding they initially checked into Room 307.
He also added that his employer Shashi Tharoor called him and enquired after his wife Sunanda. later, he came over to Room 342 but after intervention from close friends, the couple checked into suite 345 in the same hotel on Wednesday evening.
“On the intervening night of January 15-16, the couple had been squabbling through the night. I was sitting outside their bedroom and I heard that they were bickering. She was struck by her husband. He was also roughed up by his wife,” he said in his statement.
According to Narayan, the couple was fighting and arguing on January 16 night as well. Around 4.30 am, Tharoor came out of his bedroom and turned in for the night on the couch in the drawing room while Pushkar busied herself with her cell phone. She later spoke to two women TV journalists.
“At 6.30 am on Friday, I was giving her a foot massage when Mr Tharoor woke up and later went to attend the AICC session. At 7 am, I came outside her room but she was sleeping then. At 11.10 am, driver Bajrangi came and I had to leave the hotel on work,” he added.
He also said that the personal assistant of Tharoor, Sharma, also came to meet her on Friday afternoon and a female journalist also called on her. But without meeting with her, both of them returned since Pushkar did not answer their phone calls.
“later the female journalist called me to inform that Pushkar was not taking her phone calls. I came at 4.30 pm and found Mrs Tharoor had not ordered anything and she had not even asked for coconut water. I tried to wake up her around 5.35 pm but she did not respond. It was then that I informed Mr Tharoor who arrived at 8 pm. He asked Bajrangi to summon the hotel doctors. In the meantime, Sharma called up Mr Tharoor’s personal secretary Abhinav Kumar who in turn informed the SHO of Sarojini Nagar PS.”