Delhi Court discharges Shashi Tharoor in connection with Sunanda Pushkar death case

New-Delhi: The Delhi Court on Wednesday discharged Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in relation with Sunanda Pushkar death case. The order was passed by Special Judge Geetanjali Goel in a virtual meeting.

Shashi Tharoor thanked the judge, and said “an absolute torture for last seven-and-a-half-years” and that it was a “great relief”.

It was a long battle of 7 yrs. Ultimately justice has prevailed. He had faith in the judicial system right from the beginning. The charges levelled by the police for abetment to suicide & cruelty were absurd & preposterous, said Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, who represented Shashi Tharoor.

Even the most essential ingredients of the offenses were not present in this case. All reports of various medical boards incl Psychological Autopsy Reports exonerated Dr Shashi Tharoor from charges of homicide or suicide. The chargesheet filed was without any basis, added Vikas Pahwa.

The former union minister was on bail in the case. Earlier in 2015, a charge sheet was filed against him by Delhi Police under Sections 498-A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava said Pushkar was subjected to mental cruelty which led to her deteriorating. The public prosecutor resisted relying on the post mortem report which suggested that the cause of death is poisoning which could be oral or injected.

On the other hand senior advocate Vikas Pahwa argued that the prosecution failed to ascertain the cause of Sunanda Pushkar’s death between 2014 and 2017. It was also submitted that the doctors who conducted the preliminary post mortem report went beyond their jurisdiction by relying on circumstantial evidence.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a five-star hotel room in Delhi on January 17, 2014. On August 31, 2019, the Delhi Police had asked a Delhi court to conduct legal proceedings against Tharoor for abetment to suicide in connection with Sunanda’s death.