HC gives police time to go through her tweets

NEWDELHI: The Delhi high court on Wednesday gave the police time to go through the Twitter posts of the late Sunanda Pushkar after the city police’s counsel said the department had not seen the tweets nor was it relying on them in the case related to her death.

Pushkar, 51, was found dead in a hotel room on January 17, 2014 following which the police charged her husband and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor with abetment to suicide, among other charges.

Justice Manoj Ohri was told by the Delhi police counsel that her tweets were not a part of the record or the charge sheet filed in the case and if Tharoor wanted to rely on them, they were in public domain and he can access them.

The court was hearing a plea by Tharoor seeking directions to the Delhi police to preserve the Twitter account and posts on the microblogging site by Pushkar prior to her death.

Appearing for Tharoor, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa submitted that the tweets were part of the electronic record before the trial court in the form of Pushkar’s laptop and mobile phone. He said all the police have to do is put it up as evidence before the court as an indicator of her state of mind prior to her death.