The sudden death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of union minister Shashi Tharoor, on Friday evening was hidden from her octogenarian father, lieutenant colonel PN Dass (retired), until Saturday afternoon.
He stays at the cantonment area in Patiala with his son, colonel Rajesh Pushkar, who took the rest of the family to New Delhi on Friday evening, still keeping the father in the dark to save him from the shock.
Lieutenant colonel Dass, who belong to Kashmir, is with son for the past many months. Colonel Rajesh is in 1 Armoured Division, while his parent regiment is 74 Armoured. Sunanda's father left for Delhi on Saturday afternoon with Rajesh's son, Aryan, who is in Class 10 at Army Public School here.
The family refused to speak with the media. Colonel Rajesh Pushkar disconnected the phone saying: "We will talk to you later." His son had the same response over telephone. The army authorities in Patiala beefed up security in the cantonment to keep the media away from Sunanda's father, who was here till Saturday noon.