Sunanda Pushkar death: Court seeks police report on hotel room unsealing

The court direction came after the police sought more time to keep the room locked, arguing that a forensic report on samples collected from the spot was still awaited.

A court here on Tuesday asked Delhi Police to file a compliance report on its order to unseal a room in The Leela Palace hotel where former Union minister Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in 2014.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a hotel room in New Delhi on January 17, 2014. (PTI Photo)

Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh said that if the police fails to file the report, a senior police officer will have to appear in person to explain the cause.

He listed the matter for further hearing on October 16.

The court direction came after the police sought more time to keep the room locked, arguing that a forensic report on samples collected from the spot was still awaited.

However, it added that one report has been received and it requires three more days to unseal the room.

The court had earlier said the room had been locked for over three years which caused huge financial loss to the hotel.

On July 21 this year, the court ordered its unsealing, saying the hotel cannot be made to suffer merely because the investigating team cannot ascertain the cause of Pushkar’s death.