SIT to probe Sunanda's death

The Delhi Police have set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the death of Sunanda Pushkar, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s wife, who died at a hotel here last year.

“The probe will be monitored by DCP (South) Prem Nath and Additional DCP (South) P S Kushwaha, and includes an ACP, an inspector and the SHO of Sarojini Nagar police station,” Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said on Wednesday.

Sources said the team will go to Kerala to question Tharoor if he fails to return to the capital soon. Tharoor is in Palakkad district to visit the Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple.
“As far as questioning of Shashi Tharoor is concerned, it was done and it will be done again if necessary,” Bassi added.

Though Tharoor’s statement was also recorded before a sub-divisional magistrate last year, the SIT will be looking to question him with the latest medical and forensic reports used to register the murder case against unidentified persons with the Sarojini Nagar police station.

It is learnt that Tharoor and Sunanda were involved in a heated argument while traveling from Thiruvananthapuram to the national capital on January 16 last year.

Sunanda had refused to return to their Lodhi Estate residence due to which the couple ended up booking separate rooms in Leela Palace hotel. Sunanda had booked room number 342, while Tharoor booked room number 345.

Sources said Sunanda shifted to room number 345, where she was found dead, only on the morning of January 17. Tharoor was the first person to find her dead. Tharoor will also be asked about an injection puncture between Sunanda’s fingers, which looked like “the work of an amateur”.

Earlier, Tharoor was also accused of interfering in the post-mortem and medical probe with AIIMS department of forensic medicine and toxicology chief Dr Sudhir Kumar Gupta raising the matter in a letter addressed to the chief vigilance commissioner and central administrative tribunal.

Dr Gupta was the head of the medical panel that conducted Sunanda’s post-mortem. On Wednesday, Dr Gupta said it would not be easy to find out the absolute cause of Sunanda’s death. He maintained that Sunanda had died of poisoning.

“Our duty was to give an opinion to the police, and we have already done it. Whatever I had said earlier were my findings, not my stand. Our report does not mention death is homicidal in nature. It is due to poisoning. Now it is for the police to probe further,” said Dr Gupta.

Before submitting the third report to the police on December 29, AIIMS had also consulted a pathologist.

Experts say there have been several cases in which the exact poison used to kill a person was not identified even 10 years after the crime was committed.