Sunanda Pushkar case: Cause of death inconclusive, says medical report; her chat transcripts may give a clue

Sunanda 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.

New Delhi: A new medical board formed to examine findings of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) lab and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) into the death of Sunanda Pushkar has said that the cause of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor wife's death remains inconclusive.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the death of Pushkar received the report a month back.

"The medical board submitted its report a month back and they have failed to give any conclusive results. We have asked them to study the findings of FBI and AIIMS again to draw a conclusion," a senior police officer said.

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.

"The circumstantial recovery of empty Alprex Tablets (27 tablets) and report of FBI which shows the presence of Alprax in stomach and its contents, spleen, liver section, half of each kidney, blood sample, as well as urine wet clothing, bed cover and bed sheet confirmed the death is due to excessive ingestion of Tablet Alprazolam," the written opinion read.

However, after the Delhi Police failed to draw any conclusion on basis of the findings, the report was handed over to another medical board, set up in June 2016, for examination before further proceedings in the high-profile case.

The board consisted of four doctors from Delhi, Chandigarh, and Puducherry.

However, the SIT is now waiting for Pushkar’s Blackberry Messenger chat transcripts.

The Indian Express has quoted sources as saying that a US court has directed the authorities to expedite the retrieving of BBM chats, which were found to be deleted after her death.

Another forensic report on Pushkar’s laptop from an Ahmedabad lab is also awaited.

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.

(With Agency inputs)