Sunanda wanted to retrieve deleted BBMs sent by Tharoor to Mehr Tarar, claims TV journalist

New Delhi: In a stunning revelation, senior journalist Nalini Singh said on Thursday that Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, was tensed hours before her death and crying hard.

TV journalist Nalini Singh was the last person to talk to Sunanda Pushkar. She had made last call from her mobile to Singh.

Singh told Zee Media that she received a call from Sunanda at 12:10 am on January 17, few hours before she was found dead in the room of a five-star hotel in Delhi.

“At 12:10 am on January 17, I received a call from Sunanda. She was crying hard and was very tensed. I thought it is because of the then ongoing Twitter spat between her and Pakistani scribe Mehr Tarar. But Sunanda told me that Shashi has deleted messages from his BlackBerry phone. She said that as a media person, I should help her in retrieving those messages... But let me tell you that Sunanda discussed about Tarar with me six months back also during a dinner at her place,” said Singh to Zee media.

Singh added Sunanda was also unhappy following a meet between her husband Shashi Tharoor and Tarar in Dubai.

Days before her death, Sunanda had alleged that her husband and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar had an affair.

A new twist was added to Sunanda’s mysterious death after Dr Sudhir Gupta, who heads the Forensic Science department of AIIMS, on Wednesday alleged that he was pressured by an influential UPA minister to change the autopsy report.

Dr Gupta made the disclosure in an affidavit to the central administrative tribunal.

Read: Was asked to give false autopsy report of Sunanda Pushkar, alleges doctor

Gupta claimed that he is being targeted because he did not give in to the pressure and submitted a report stating that Sunanda died of death poisoning, which could be suicidal or homicidal.

However, a day later on Thursday Gupta said that Sunanda Pushkar's postmortem report was based on principles and norms of medical ethics.

Read: Sunanda Pushkar death: Doctor changes stand, says his reports were bonafide

Gupta further said, "If you want my version, let me take the permission of the competent authority of AIIMS, because this is a serious legal issue. I want to clarify, not only post mortem of Sunanda Pushkar, any postmortem report prepared by me are based on ethics laid by the medicine. They are best on principles and practice of medicine."

The autopsy report had mentioned more than a dozen injury marks on Sunanda's both hands and an abrasion on her cheek which suggests a "use of blunt force", besides a "deep teeth bite" on the edge of her left palm. Viscera samples were preserved after the autopsy at AIIMS and were sent to CFSL for further tests.

The CFSL report hinted at drug poisoning but its findings were not conclusive enough to file an FIR in the case, according to police.

The search and seizure memorandum of the police, which is a part of the report, mentioned finding of mix of two drugs - Alprazolam and Excedrin. Excedrin is a combination of acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine while Alprazolam is an anxiolytic.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) however, denied that there was any pressure on Dr. Sudhir Gupta to present a doctored post mortem report.

Read: Pushkar death doctor made up false charges: AIIMS

"These allegations are baseless. Dr. Sudhir Gupta and his team had no pressure to change postmortem report," said Dr. Amit Gupta, AIIMS Public Relations Officer.

Simultaneously, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor demanded a speedy and transparent probe into his wife’s death to “put an end to wild speculation”.

Former Union minister issued a two-paragraph statement on Wednesday, which he later shared on Facebook.

Read: Sunanda Pushkar death case: Shashi Tharoor calls for 'clear, definitive' end

Reportedly, Tharoor said in the statement, “From the beginning itself, I requested for a thorough investigation. It would be conducted and concluded rapidly and transparently. The Pushkar family has also taken the same view and we all cooperated with the authorities well. I reiterate my request to bring this protracted inquiry to a clear and definite conclusion so as to put all speculations to rest.”

Sunanda and Tharoor, who were always in some sort of controversy or the other, reportedly fought over the alleged affair which came to light when Tharoor claimed his twitter handle was hacked. He made the declaration after purported controversial tweets were posted from his accounts and were believed to be addressed to the Pakistan-based journalist.

Pushkar had told couple of newspapers that she was considering divorce from Tharoor in the wake of the alleged extra-marital affair. On her part, Mehr denied Pushkar's allegations of her stalking Tharoor or having an affair with him. However, after the media carried the war of words on the twitter following which the couple issued a statement, claiming they were happily married.