Sunanda Pushkar death case: Delhi Police wants to try Shashi Tharoor on murder charges

The probe agency told the court that according to the post-mortem report, the cause of Sunanda Pushkar's death was poisoning and 15 injury marks were found on various parts of her body, including in forearm, arms and legs. 

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Delhi Police on Saturday urged a city court to prosecute Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for abetment to suicide or "in alternative" on murder charge in the case of death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar in 2014.

"Please frame sections 498-A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty), 306 (abetment of suicide) or in alternative 302 (murder) IPC against the accused (Shashi Tharoor)," the probe agency told special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar.

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Senior public prosecutor Atul Srivastava made the submissions during arguments on framing of charges in the case.

The former Union minister, Shashi Tharoor, who is currently on bail in the case, was charged by Delhi Police under Sections 498-A and 306 of the Indian Penal Code.

Reading out a statement of the couple's domestics help, who is one of the witnesses in the case, the prosecutor said that the couple had fight over a girl named Katy and some Blackberry messages.

The prosecutor said that before her death, Sunanda Pushkar wanted to address a press conference on the IPL issue and had said "I will not leave him [Shashi Tharoor]."

The witness had told police that one year prior to the demise, the couple used to fight a lot.

The agency told the court that Sunanda Pushkar was distressed and felt betrayed in her marital life.

Police told the court that Sunanda Pushkar was suffering from mental agony due to a strained relationship with her husband. She had a scuffle with her husband and had various injury marks few days before her death, they said.

Police accused Shashi Tharoor of torturing his wife which abetted her to commit suicide.

The probe agency told the court that according to the post-mortem report, the cause of Sunanda Pushkar's death was poisoning and 15 injury marks were found on various parts of her body, including in forearm, arms and legs.

The prosecutor further told the court that Shashi Tharoor's relation with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar also added to Sunanda Pushkar's mental agony.

The prosecutor also apprised the court about Sunanda Pushkar's friend and journalist Nalini Singh's statement, which is part of the chargesheet, that the relation between the couple was tense and bad.

"She [Sunanda Pushkar] told she helped Shashi Tharoor a lot in IPL matter. She had found some messages between Tarar and Tharoor. She refused to go to their house and instead went to Leela hotel. The relation between the couple was very bad," Singh had said in her statement.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Shashi Tharoor, refuted the submissions, saying that the arguments made by the prosecutor were contrary to the bare reading of the charge sheet and the charges pressed by him were "absurd and preposterous".

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Pahwa said that the prosecutor "did not read the opinions of the experts who conducted the Psychological Autopsy, who have categorically held that this is neither a case of homicide nor suicide but due to some unidentified biological reasons."

"There is nothing in the statements of the family or friends, which shows that Dr. Tharoor has ever treated her with cruelty. On the contrary, there are many statements which say that Dr. Tharoor had always treated Sunanda which civility and respect, but not read," Pahwa said, adding that "Every bit of evidence collected by the SIT speaks just the opposite to what the Prosecutor has argued today."

The case is now listed for the next hearing on October 17.

The case was earlier sent to the sessions court for further proceedings.

The maximum punishment for the offence listed in the charge sheet is 10 years of imprisonment. However, if convicted for 302 (murder), the maximum punishment is death penalty while the minimum is life imprisonment.

Sunanda Pushkar's death had created a sensation as it came shortly after a bitter spat between the couple on Twitter over his alleged affair with Tarar.

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Sunanda Pushkar, 51, was found dead in a suite of luxury hotel Leela in Delhi's Chanakyapuri on the night of January 17, 2014.

The couple was staying at the hotel as the official bungalow of Tharoor was being renovated at that time.

(With inputs from Aneesha Mathur)