Almost an year after Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a five-star hotel in New Delhi, the police have registered a case of murder. Saying that Sunanda Pushkar was poisoned and that the poison was either administered to her by mouth or injection, the police have relied on medical and forensic reports while registering a case under section 302 of the IPC.
A special team led by DCP (south) Prem Nath and additonal DCP (south) Kushwah has been formed to investigate the case. The police will go for a re-investigation in the case which was being probed under 174 CrPC, treating the death as unnatural. Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a five-star hotel room in Delhi on January 17, 2014.
'Stunned' Tharoor offers to cooperate
Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP, said in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, that he was stunned to know that his wife Sunanda Pushkar was poisoned and that a murder case had now been filed. In a statement, Tharoor said: "Needless to say I am anxious to see that this case is investigated thoroughly, and (I) assure the police my full cooperation. Although we never thought of any foul play in the death of my wife, we all want that a comprehensive investigation be conducted and the unvarnished truth should come out," he said.
He added that he and all members of Pushkar's family wanted access to all the information on the basis of which Delhi Police had concluded that she was poisoned to death. "We have not been provided copies of the post-mortem report and other reports of the inquiry like the CFSL report till date. We repeat our request for a copy of these reports to be provided to us immediately," said Tharoor.
Left, BJP ask Tharoor to resign
The Left and the BJP in Kerala have asked Shashi Tharoor to resign from the Lok Sabha after Delhi Police said that his wife Sunanda Pushkar was poisoned to death. Former Kerala chief minister V S Achuthanandan said the Congress should publicly apologise for "protecting" Tharoor when he was a minister in the Congress-led central government. "Now with a murder case registered, Tharoor should resign and make himself available for the probe," the CPM leader said in a statement.
State BJP president V Muraleedharan asked Tharoor to resign from the Lok Sabha. "The Congress should apologise to the people for fielding him (in the Lok Sabha polls)," said Muraleedharan. Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy declined to comment on the case.
