Losses mount on Sunanda’s death suite

NEWDELHI: A suite at the swanky Hotel Leela Palace in Delhi’s Chanakyapuri has remained under lock and key for 1,275 days now, reportedly causing the establishment a loss of ~50 lakh and giving rise to an infestation of pests that’s threatening to affect its adjoining rooms.

And yet, the Delhi Police are unwilling to de-seal the suite. After all, this was the place where Sunanda Pushkar — business magnate and wife of Congress politician Shashi Tharoor — was found dead on January 17, 2014, and it is still required for investigation.

The issue was raised before a city court on Friday, when hotel authorities told metropolitan magistrate Pankaj Sharma in a petition that “termites, bugs and insects have infested the suite due to continuous lockage”. They said the rental fee of the 17 suites in the five-star establishment ranges from ~55,000 to ~61,000 per night, and their inability to offer suite no. 345 to guests has cost them nearly halfa-crore rupees in the last three years.

However, in their response to the hotel’s petition for de-sealing the room, police sought more time because the place was required to be in its “original condition” for forensic examination. They said the cause of Pushkar’s demise still remains unknown, despite two visits by Central Forensic Science Laboratory experts and five different reports submitted by medical boards.

The hotel’s counsel, however, expressed the hope that the two parties would be able to arrive at a mutually beneficial solution to the issue. “If needed, the hotel will allow the investigating agency to take all the articles in the suite for analysis,” he said. “Continuous lockage of the suite is not only spoiling the room but its adjoining areas too.”

The metropolitan magistrate directed police to file its response to the hotel’s offer by July 21.

Pushkar’s death has been the cause of immense controversy, and the Delhi Police have come under criticism for the manner in which they handled the case.

A murder case was lodged in the case more than a year after her death.

The hotel’s petition said the suite should be de-sealed because not a single probe body has dropped by in recent times.