Police register murder case in Sunanda Pushkar death

In a sensational twist to the death of Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar, Delhi Police on Tuesday registered a murder case on the basis of a medical report that concluded her death was unnatural and due to poisoning but nobody has been named as a suspect as yet.

Disclosing this, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi did not rule out questioning Tharoor, now a Congress MP and a former union minister.

It was not clear whether she had consumed the poison on her own or it was administered forcefully or by injection, he said.

"Stunned" by the Delhi police action, Tharoor, who had married Sunanda in 2010, sought full details from the investigators on the basis of which the police action came.

"I am stunned to hear that the Delhi police have filed a case of murder against unknown persons in the demise of my late wife Sunanda. Needless to say I am anxious to see this case is investigated thoroughly and continue to assure the police of my full co-operation," Tharoor said in a statement.

While Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said registration of a case one year after the death raises question marks and suspicions. "It is a legal process. Every case need not be sensationalised," he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman GVL Narasimha Rao said the registration of a murder case has ended the confusion and hoped that the investigation will be concluded soon and the guilty prosecuted.

Nearly a year after 51-year-old Sunanda was found dead in a luxury hotel here on January 17, Delhi Police filed the case of murder under section 302 of the IPC but no one has been named in the FIR.

"Nobody has been named in the case," Bassi told reporters in reply to questions.

Sunanda's death had created a sensation as it came hot on the heels of a bitter spat between the couple over the twitter over his alleged affair with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.

"On December 29, the medical board of All India Institute of Medical Sciences has given us a report. The main thing they have informed us is that the death is unnatural and not natural. Secondly, it is due to poison that could have been taken orally or injected and they have told us other things as well," Bassi said.

He said since tests to find out the quantum and nature of the poison cannot take place in India, the police have decided to send samples abroad for examination.

"So it was necessary that a case be registered. We have registered a case and we will investigate," he said in reply to questions.

Asked whether Tharoor would be questioned in the light of the latest development Bassi said, "Now as we have registered a case of murder, all those people who were connected with the case will be examined."

"All the witnesses in this case were examined by the SDM, as he conducted inquest proceedings. So, all relevant witnesses were examined by him, we had also examined them under Section 174 of the Cr.PC.

"Now as we have registered a case of murder, all those people connected with the case will be examined," he said.

Bassi said the AIIMS report has not specified the nature of the poison and how it was administered into her body. The substance is still not clear but the death is due to poisoning, he said.

Asked why a case was being registered one year after the incident, he said the medical report which the police got initially was "interim".

The doctors needed certain information which was gathered and given to them, he said, noting after that they demanded some more information.

"Now they (doctors) have given us some conclusions on the basis of available information. So on the basis of that report it was necessary to file a case and proceed further in the probe," Bassi said.

The report has not given definitive conclusion about how poison was present in the body but it has suggested more possibility of injection having been administered, he said.

Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor