In response to a plea filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, the Delhi High court on July 21, directed the Delhi Police to file a status report regarding ongoing investigations in Sunanda Pushkar’s ‘mysterious death’ case. Acting on the court’s order, the Delhi commissioner of police, Mr. B.S. Bassi informed the media that Pushkar’s death was ‘unnatural.’ Bassi’s statement spurred up a fresh round of controversies for Pushkar’s husband and prime suspect, in this case, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
On January 17, 2014, Pushkar was allegedly found dead in room no. 345 of Hotel Leela in New Delhi, a day after the Twitter controversy involving Tharoor, Pushkar and the Pakistani journalist Mehar Tarar. Swamy, in January 2015, filed a case against Pushkar’s husband, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, alleging ‘foul play’ in her death investigations.
According to Swami, Pushkar died a few hours before the press conference, where she was about to disclose the murky IPL (Indian Premier League) dealings. Her death seemed fishy, therefore, he sought a court-monitored CBI-headed SIT probe in this case. Swamy had accused Tharoor of using political connections to influence investigation in Pushkar’s case. He allegedly blamed the parties involved for destroying the evidence. Therefore, he sought CBI-headed SIT investigations in this case.
Taking cognizance of Swamy’s plea, Justice Chander Shekhar, and Justice G S Sistani had asked Delhi Police’s standing counsel Rahul Mehra to file a status report of the investigation. Following this, the police sped up investigations and retrieved a copy of Pushkar’s post mortem report from Delhi AIIMS. The report revealed that ‘radioactive materials’ didn’t cause her ‘unnatural death.’ Once again, Tharoor came under suspicion.
Concurrently, the court had issued orders for de-sealing the room, where Pushkar was found dead. Suite no. 345 has been locked since Pushkar’s death. The police sealed the room for investigation. However, the hotel management had approached the court, stating that the police didn’t visit the room for over a year.
Bugs and insects had infested the room and the hotel was suffering financial loss. Justice MM Sharma found their request ‘logical’ and ordered de-sealing of the room because the hotel shouldn’t suffer due to the laziness of the investigation team.
Latest developments, in this case, caused quite a ruckus in the media. Irritated by this, Pushkar’s son Shiv Menon moved the court, opposing Swamy’s involvement in this case. He requested the court to refrain Swami and his followers from posting on social media. The court is yet to hear Menon’s case on August 1.
Things have now turned difficult for Tharoor, who was consistently approached by the media for comments. Irritated by this continuous pestering, Tharoor came out in the open, this Sunday. Addressing the audience at an international conference on Dr. BR Ambedkar in Bangalore, Tharoor said that he was most anxious to know the truth. If asked, he would cooperate with the authorities in this case and not with publicity seekers like Swamy.
Tharoor’s fears and irritation are quite evident, as the police are delving into Pushkar’s case.
