Delhi court summons Shashi Tharoor as accused in Sunanda Pushkar death case

There exists sufficient grounds to proceed against Shashi Tharoor for commission of offences in the case, observed the court.

A Delhi court on Tuesday summoned former Union minister and senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor as accused in the Sunanda Pushkar death case. The Kerala MP has been asked to appear before the court on July 7.

While issuing summon to the Congress leader, the court observed, “There exists sufficient grounds to proceed against Tharoor for commission of offences in the case.” This comes almost a week after the court reserved its order on whether to summon Tharoor as an accused in the case.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal took cognisance of the offences of alleged abetment of suicide and committing cruelty by Tharoor towards Pushkar. "I have heard the prosecutor. I have gone through and perused the charge sheet and the documents filed along with it. On the basis of police report (charge sheet), I take cognisance of offence of abetment of suicide of late Sunanda Pushkar and committing cruelty upon her by Dr Shashi Tharoor," the judge said.

The Delhi Police had on May 14 accused the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram of abetting Sunanda Pushkar's suicide and told a city court that he should be summoned as an accused in the four-and-half-year-old case, claiming there was sufficient evidence against him.

In a nearly 3,000-page charge sheet, the police had named Tharoor as the only accused, alleging that he had subjected his wife to cruelty.

The couple's domestic servant, Narayan Singh, was named one of the key witnesses in the case. Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014.

The Congress leader has been charged under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Under section 498A, the maximum punishment is up to three years of imprisonment, while jail term up to 10 years is prescribed under section 306.

An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015, against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).