News

Sunanda death row: Subramanium Swamy seeks CBI

by IBNS 03 Jul 2014, 07:53 am

New Delhi, July 3 (IBNS): Adding another twist, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramaniun Swamy has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar's death.

Swamy has linked the death of Pushkar with the alleged Indian Premier League  (IPL) money laundering row.

"He (Shashi Tharoor) definitely knows the identity of Sunanda Pushkar's murderer. He is not the murderer but he definitely knows who killed her," Swamy told CNN-IBN channel.

"She (Sunanda) had been speaking to various people about the possible IPL money laundering case. These people did talk about it after Sunanda's death and I have been informed by sources about the same," he said.

Swamy said that if a SIT under the CBI is not set up to probe her death, then he will move the court.

While the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has denied the allegations of political pressure levelled by forensic department head Sudhir Gupta over  Pushkar's autopsy report after her mysterious death in a hotel in January, the latter said he did his job honestly despite efforts to influence him and gave a factually correct report.

"I stand by my autopsy report," said Gupta Thursday speaking to media, adding that any report he prepared ever was factually correct.

"I never succumb to any pressure," he told media, adding that who tried to influence him is a matter of legal investigation.

He said who tried to pressurise him cannot be revealed to media and police can probe it. 

Congress party has denied trying to influence AIIMS doctor for a tailormade report.

 Sudhir Gupta earlier triggered a row saying that he was under pressure to say that the death of the then union minister's wife was natural though he did not bow. 

Sudhir Gupta said he was targeted for taking an honest stand  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. 

Earlier, AIIMS made its stand clear on the issue.

"The AIIMS administration categorically denies any such allegation that there was any attempt to pressurise Dr. Sudhir Gupta," AIIMS Media and Protocol Division Chairperson Neerja Bhatla told mediapersons.

She along with  AIIMS spokesperson Amit Gupta said no one in the administration is aware of any reason why Gupta is scared. 

 Earlier Shashi Tharoor 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 Puskar'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.

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.