Subramanian Swamy takes jibe at Shashi Tharoor over court's foreign travel restrictions

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Congress leader Shashi Tharoor soon after the latter was granted an anticipatory bail by a Delhi court in Sunanda Pushkar death case.

Tharoor cannot travel abroad without prior permission of the court and cannot tamper with the evidence and witness, added Delhi's Patiala House Court. Also, the Congress leader will have to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh.

Taking a jibe at the Thiruvananthapuram MP, Swamy said that the court putting restrictions on Tharoor's foreign travel will bar him from meeting his girlfriends in various parts of the world. "Yes, he can't go out of the country and see all his girlfriends in various parts of the world," Subramanian Swamy told news agency ANI.

Swamy leader further attacked the Congress leader and this time he took a dig at UPA chief Sonia Gandhi as well as Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Hinting at Sonia and Rahul getting bail in National Herald case, Swamy said that since Tharoor is not locked in Tihar Jail, he can sit with the Gandhis as they are also 'bail-wallas'.

"There is nothing for Shashi Tharoor to celebrate. He is not in Tihar jail, he can sit with Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, they are also bail-wallas," the senior BJP leader said.

Swamy's statement comes shortly after Delhi's Patiala House Court granted interim bail to Tharoor in connection with the mysterious death case of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

The Kerala MP has already been summoned as an accused in the case, prompting him to term the charges as 'preposterous and baseless.' He had been given time till July 7.

The senior Congress leader has, however, maintained that he is innocent of charges levelled against him but the Delhi court found 'sufficient grounds' to proceed against him.

The police had filed a 3000-page chargesheet before Metropolitan Magistrate under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

In the chargesheet, the police had named Tharoor as the only accused, while also 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.

(With inputs from agencies)