NEW DELHI: Sunanda Pushkar’s viscera report has brought back the possibility of foul play in the mysterious death of the 52-year-old businesswoman in a south Delhi luxury hotel on January 17 this year.
Sources said the report not only rules out the presence of any poison in Sunanda’s body but also finds no trace of the anti-anxiety drug, Alprax, in her stomach at the time of the death. This directly contradicts the autopsy report which had concluded that Sunanda died of drug poisoning and had indicated the presence of Alprax.
Investigators, who had recovered near-empty strips of Alprax from Sunanda’s hotel room, are stumped by the new findings.
“We had recovered two strips of Alprax, each capable of holding 15 tablets. The first was empty and the second had just three tablets. If she was taking the pill as per dosage, we need to find out why an empty strip was in the room,” said an investigator.
Sunanda, wife of junior HRD minister Shashi Tharoor, was reportedly depressed. Days before her death, she accused Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar of having an affair with her husband in the course of a ugly Twitter spat.
The autopsy report had said Sunanda’s death was sudden and unnatural, caused by drug poisoning. As reported by TOI on Sunday, cops said they were now going to leave the interpretation and inference of the viscera report to the doctors who conducted the autopsy.
Police are now likely to focus on other aspects of the case, such as a dozen injuries found on Sunanda’s body and possible foul play, a senior cop said. However, the silence maintained by Delhi Police on the probe also raises questions.
Top cops still tight-lipped
The Delhi Police have not yet held a single official briefing on Sunanda Pushkar’s death, indicating the kind of pressure they have been under in this high-profile case.
Even on Saturday, the joint commissioner, the DCP and additional DCP of the south district remained unavailable and refused to answer questions. The probe had been transferred to the crime branch but the police department strangely transferred it back in 24 hours.
Sunanda had checked into the Leela Palace hotel in Chanakyapuri on January 15, alone. She was staying in a room on the third floor and was visibly depressed when she arrived at the hotel. The hotel staff has reportedly told police that she had hardly eaten during her stay.
Tharoor, sources said, had checked into the hotel on January 16, when the couple shifted to a suite number 345. They were engaged in a night-long argument, investigators have found, and Sunanda went to sleep only around 6.30am on January 17. She did not order any food. Soon after (around 7am), Tharoor left to attend the AICC meet at Talkatora Stadium and found her dead upon his return.
