Shashi Tharoor wants speedy probe into wife Sunanda's mysterious death

New Delhi: Two days after the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, the Delhi police on Sunday recorded the statements of her husband, HRD minister of state Shashi Tharoor, and senior journalist Nalini Singh in the presence of a subdivisional magistrate who is conducting the inquiry.

The statement of Tharoor was recorded at the office of SDM Alok Sharma at Kapashera in South Delhi. In his deposition that lasted half an hour, the minister is learnt to have narrated the sequence of events prior to the death of his wife.

The SDM is holding an inquiry under Section 176 IPC as her marriage with Tharoor was less than seven years old.

Also read: Evidence of drug overdose in Sunanda's body, no trace of alcohol; police intensify probe

Earlier on Sunday, Tharoor wrote to home minister Sushilkumar Shinde to urge that the probe into his wife’s death be expedited as quickly as possible, and saying he would cooperate fully in the investigation. In his letter, he said the authorities should be asked to expedite their investigation and come to a rapid conclusion so the truth emerges at the earliest.

Doctors who conducted the post-mortem on Suna-nda’s body on Saturday had said she died a “sudden, unnatural death” and that her body had several injury marks.

The police has taken the statements of eight persons in the case. These include Sunanda’s brother, Col. Rajesh Pushkar; Tharoor’s personal assistant R.K. Sharma; and Shiv Kumar, a consultant to the minister.

On Saturday, sources said the journalist had revealed that Pushkar was “mighty upset” and “crying” over the phone when she had spoken to her early morning on January 17, the same day that she was found dead. Nalini is learnt to have also claimed Sunanda sounded “disturbed” and “distraught”.

Next: Unrest, spats marked last days of Sunanda

Unrest, spats marked last days of Sunanda

New Delhi: Everything was not well between Union minister Shashi Tharoor and his deceased wife Sunanda Pushkar and reports have suggested that there was a discord between the couple much before it came all out in open after a Twitter spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.

The injury marks found on the neck, wrists and arms of Pushkar during the post-mortem did not help the cause and have pointed towards various points of probe, including whether she was involved in a scuffle, even as reports emerged that she came alone to the hotel on January 16, without any booking and was crying.

Tharoor apparently came to the Leela hotel later and then the couple shifted to the suite 345. Sunanda did not come out of her room throughout the day or even for breakfast, which is complimentary.

After going through the CCTV footage in the hotel where she died on Friday and on the questioning of the private staff of Tharoor, MoS for HRD, police has decided to question people Pushkar is understood to have spoken to after she had reportedly fought with her husband on Thursday night.

It has already been carried out in the media that the couple’s driver had often witnessed the two in heated arguments and the problem between the two started June-July last year.

After the autopsy, a team of three senior doctors at AIIMS on Saturday termed Pushkar’s, 52, death as “sudden and unnatural” and blamed it on a possible “overdose of anti-depression medicine”.

The doctors, however, were tight-lipped on the nature of injury and whether they could be related to the cause of the death.

Next: Sources confirm traces of overdose by sunanda

Sources confirm traces of overdose by sunanda

New Delhi: AIIMS sources said late on Sunday night that while there was no trace of alcohol in Sunanda’s body, some evidence of the presence of anti-depressant drugs was likely, PTI reported.

Doctors said the presence of Alprazolam, that belongs to a group of psychoactive drugs used as sedatives, cannot be ruled out.

The AIIMS doctors have preserved certain “biological samples for toxicological analysis as well as visco-pathological examination”. The results of AIIMS tests will be submitted to the SDM on Monday.