Tharoor asks Shinde for speedy probe into Sunanda death

Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor on Sunday wrote to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde urging him to issue instructions for expediting a probe into the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

He also recorded his statement on Pushkar’s death at a hotel in Delhi before a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM).

In the letter, Tharoor said he was “horrified to read the reckless speculation rampant” in the media.

The minister not only offered his full cooperation in the probe into the death of 52-year-old Pushkar, but also asserted that the truth should emerge at the earliest.

“In the midst of my mourning, I have finally had a chance to catch up with the media reports and am horrified to read the reckless speculation rampant there. I am appealing to you to issue instructions to the relevant authorities to expedite the investigation and come to a rapid conclusion so that the truth emerges at the earliest,” wrote Tharoor in his letter to Shinde.

“I pledge full and unstinting cooperation. Nothing short of the truth will end the indignity to which my wife and I are being subject at a time when all I seek is to be allowed to grieve in private with her and my near and dear ones,” reads the letter, later posted on the web.

Apart from Tharoor, Sunanda’s son, her brother and five members of the couple’s personal staff were questioned by SDM Alok Sharma at his office. The deposition went on for over half-an-hour.

Sources said the minister was very cooperative during the entire proceeding.

Pushkar's death is being probed by the SDM under IPC Section 176 since the couple had been married for less than seven years.

The SDM will now proceed with the preliminary findings and put together a sequence of events.

While there is no official word on exactly what Tharoor told the magistrate, the
minister is understood to have answered questions in writing about the circumstances leading to Sunanda Pushkar’s death.

He is also said to have been questioned about the controversy surrounding Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, who was accused by Pushkar of having an affair with the minister of state for human resource development, had worked with the United Nations before joining the Congress.