Sunanda Pushkar death: HC asks Delhi Police to submit status report in three days

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead at a suite in a five-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the police to file a status report with regard to the ongoing probe into the death of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar.

HC today began its hearing on BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking a court-monitored probe by the CBI-led SIT into the death of Pushkar.

A division bench of Justice GS Sistani and Justice PS Teji ​directed the Delhi Police to submit status report in three days.

The direction was issued by the bench after Delhi Police standing counsel Rahul Mehra informed the court that the status report of the investigating agency has been given to him in the court room so he wants to go through it before placing it on record.

Mehra further informed the court that SIT has been constituted in the matter.

While appealing for a CBI probe into the high-profile death case, Swamy has alleged that "inordinate delay" has been caused in the investigation "which is a blot on the justice system".

"A lot of evidence was destroyed. Delhi Police has set up a vigilance inquiry to probe lapses into this investigation," said Swamy.

The post-mortem report confirmed her death was "unnatural" and "due to poison", Swamy had said.

He had further alleged that Congress MP Tharoor was influencing investigation into the matter.

The plea, which was filed earlier this month, has sought setting up of a multi-disciplinary Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Intelligence Bureau, the Enforcement Directorate, RAW, the Delhi Police and headed by the CBI to probe the case.

51-year-old Pushkar was found dead at a suite in a five-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014, a day after her spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on Twitter over her alleged affair with Tharoor.

The Delhi Police had in January 2015 registered a case of murder in connection with Pushkar's death. The FBI report sent to the Delhi Police in November 2015 had virtually ruled out the theory of 'polonium poisoning' having caused her death. In January 2016, the AIIMS medical board unanimously concluded that the cause of Sunanda Pushkar's death is poisoning.

Several persons, including Tharoor, have been questioned in connection with Sunanda's death. The police have also conducted polygraph test on six persons, all prime witnesses in the case, including Tharoor's domestic help Narayan Singh, driver Bajrangi and Sanjay Dewan, a close friend of the couple.

Tarar has also been questioned about her relation with the Congress leader and his wife, her fight with Sunanda over Twitter, and other issues revolving around Sunanda's death.