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Shashi Tharoor speaks out on Sunanda Pushkar death row

by IBNS 02 Jul 2014, 11:33 am

New Delhi, July 2 (IBNS) Former union minister and Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday issued a statement demanding a protracted probe into her wife Sunanda Pushkar's death, after a fresh controversy was triggered by the forensic head of AIIMS hospital over the cause of the demise in January this year.

"Upon the tragic loss of my wife Sunanda and from the very beginning, I have requested for a thorough investigation by the authorities to be conducted and concluded rapidly and transparently," said Tharoor in a statement after a  fresh twist to the death of Sunanda Pushkar,  with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) forensic head in a report alleging that he had been pressurised to submit a doctored report on the cause of Sunanda's mysterious death in a hotel room this year. 

"The Pushkar family has taken the same view and we have all fully co-operated with the authorities. I reiterate my request to bring this protracted inquiry to a clear and definitive conclusion at the earliest, so as to put all speculation to rest," said Tharoor.

AIIMS forensic department head Sudhir Gupta reportedly said that he was under pressure to say that the death of the then union minister was natural though he did not bow. 

Sudhir Gupta said he was targeted for taking an honest stand and because he did not give a natural death report in the case and had stated that she died of drug poisoning which could be both suicidal or homicidal.

In a letter to the health ministry and the Chief Vigilance Commission he made these allegations that he was asked to give a tailormade report, according to media reports on Wednesday.
 
He said there is a mala fide agenda to oust him as the Head of the Department, according to his statement. 

 Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said he has sought the report from the AIIMS director.

Sunanda Pushkar, the ailing wife of then Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor, was found dead at Leela Palace Hotel in New Delhi on Jan 17, fuelling speculations on the cause of her demise since the couple was caught in a controversy over their "hacked" Twitter account and some tweets that involved a Pakistani woman journalist linked to Tharoor romantically.

Kashmir born Sunanda Pushkar was 52. She was a sales director in the Dubai-based TECOM Investments, and a co-owner of Rendezvous Sports World. She had last tweeted to an acquaintance that she was sick and if she died she would go from the world smiling.

Media reports had also suggested some marital discord between Sunanda and Shashi Tharoor but in one of her last interviews she said she loved her husband and would not leave him while slamming the Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar for stalking her husband and even called her an ISI agent.

Pushkar was found dead in room number 345 at around 830 pm of Jan 17 after Shashi Tharoor returned to the five-star hotel attending the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session for the whole day.

Her body was discovered after the door of her room was broken open.

Pushkar and Shashi Tharoor had married in August 2010 amid a raging Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise controversy. She had to give up a stake in the Kochi IPL Team estimated at Rs 70 crore, when allegations of corruption surfaced that year.

It was the third marriage for both of them.
 
Sunanda was born in Bomie village near Sopore town in North Kashmir. Her father was a lieutenant colonel. Her first husband was Sanjay Raina, a Kashmiri. After that marriage ended in a divorce, she married a Kerala businessman Sujith Menon. She has a 21-year-old son, Shiv Menon, from her second marriage.

She complete graduation from Srinagar Government College.