New Delhi: The lifeless body of Sunanda Pushkar was found in the luxury suites of a Delhi hotel on the night of Jan 17, 2014. Soon after, former union minister Shashi Tharoor was slapped with abatement to suicide charges against the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. He was on bail against the case and the case was on virtual hearing today. But to Tharoor’s “great relief” he was dismissed by the Delhi HC and freed from all allegations related to the Sunanda death case.
Tharoor’s advocate and defense counsel Vikas Pahwa said that investigations against him were ongoing for the past 7 and a half years but no evidence against him was found by the investigating agencies. Hence, the court dismissed his charges. A statement by Sunanda’s son was also recorded during the investigation that read, “In the Mortuary of AIIMS, I asked the doctor who conducted the post mortem about the case of death, he (doctor) responded that there is no foul play or poisoning but the same doctor later went into the media and said that death is due to poisoning. Shashi can’t harm even a fly”.
After the dismissal, congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s advocate Pahwa came out with a public statement. He said, “If you cannot establish suicide, then there can be no sec. 306 case. First, you have to establish there has been a suicide. From 2014 to 2017, it has been 4 years. They have given their opinion, it’s neither suicide nor homicide. Again a null in the investigation. Even when the report said there was no suicide, they registered a case under Section 302. They don’t say it’s suicide. Suicide cannot be without intent. I am not talking abetment at the moment. I am talking about suicide For suicide, there has to be intent”. Shashi has expressed a sigh of relief and said he is “grateful” to the court for the decision.