Senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has been charged with ‘abetment to suicide’ in connection with the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar who was found dead at a room in Leela Palace Hotel, New Delhi, in January 2014.

In its charge sheet, the Delhi Police has booked Tharoor under Sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 498 A (cruelty in a marriage). Tharoor’s name appears in the ‘Column 2’ of the charge sheet, which makes him the most likely suspect.

Mystery shrouded Sunanda’s death from the night she was found dead. While police then suspected that she might have committed suicide, the possibility of prescription drug overdose was also not ruled out since Pushkar was undergoing medical treatment at the time of her death.

Even the FIR in the case could be registered after about a year of her death.

The police sealed the suite where Sunanda was found dead and took the hotel management nearly three to get it de-sealed through court.

Tharoor was questioned a number of times during the course of investigations.

In its plea, the hotel had claimed that due to the sealing of the suite, it had suffered a loss of over ₹50 lakh in three years.

Son questions Subramanian Swamy’s locus standi

In July 2017, Shiv Menon, stepson of Shashi Tharoor, moved an application before the Delhi High Court challenging the locus standi of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who has sought a time-bound court-monitored probe into his mother Sunanda Pushkar’s mysterious death.

Menon said that he is under great stress and trauma at his mother’s name being put to public debate resulting in rumours and speculation, which gives him immense pain.

Menon’s counsel and senior advocate Vikas Pahwa told Justice GS Sistani that Swamy did not have any locus standi in the case related to the death of Pushkar.

He has also asked the court to issue direction regarding speedy investigation in the case.

Swamy had earlier told the court that there has been constant attempt to block the investigation into the death of Pushkar. He alleged that the registration of an FIR took almost a year and nothing has happened after that.

Even after three years, police had not arrested anyone and no custodial interrogation took place, Swamy had said, adding that the post-mortem report confirmed her death was “unnatural” and “due to poison”.