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Delhi court discharges Shashi Tharoor of all charges: What was Sunanda Pushkar death case
The police have accused Tharoor of abetment to suicide and cruelty against Pushkar who was found dead in a luxury hotel in Delhi in 2014.
The Delhi court on Wednesday cleared senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor of all charges related to the case of his wife Sunanda Pushkar's death. The verdict was pronounced after the virtual hearing.
Tharoor's advocate Vikas Pahwa sought the discharge order saying that there was no evidence that proves Tharoor had any involvement in the death of his wife. He also cited findings by the Special Investigation that already exonerated the politician of all the charges.
The police have accused Tharoor of abetment to suicide and cruelty against Pushkar who was found dead in a luxury hotel in Delhi in 2014.
Following the order, Tharoor said, the allegations meant "seven and a half years of absolute torture" for him. "I am so grateful, it had been seven and a half years and it was an absolute torture," he said moments after judge Geetanjali Goel pronounced him "discharged" from all charges.
What is the Sunanda Pushkar death case?
A businesswoman by profession, Pushkar was found dead at Delhi’s Leela Palace hotel under mysterious circumstances. She had moved with her husband Tharoor in the hotel as their house was under maintenance. At that time, the initial reports had suggested that Pushkar dies of suicide.
Later, the reports stated the cause of death as "unnatural." In the autopsy report, the doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences found injury marks on her body. In the later stage of the investigation, the police found traces of Alprazolam, an anti-depressant, and Excedrin, a painkiller in her body.
In July the same year, the doctor who was leading the panel that conducted the postmortem on Pushkar alleged that he was pressured to give a false report in the case, according to a media report.
Following this, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate ordered an inquiry into the case to ascertain the cause of her death whether it was poisoning, murder or suicide.
In 2015, the Delhi police filed an FIR claiming to say that it was a murder.
During the investigation, Pushkar's domestic help alleged that she had often fought with Tharoor. The house help also claimed that days before her death she had threatened Tharoor that she would "disclose everything" and after which he would be "finished".
In May 2018, Delhi police charged Tharoor with abetment to suicide of his wife and marital cruelty under sections 306 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code. However, Tharoor refuted all the charges.
He was granted anticipatory bail in the matter by a Sessions Court in July 2018. Following that order, a magisterial court converted the anticipatory bail into regular bail after he appeared before it on July 7 in pursuance to the summons issued by the Metropolitan Magistrate in the matter.
