Tharoor cleared in Pushkar death case
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday dropped all charges against Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor in the case of his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s alleged suicide, seven years after she was found dead in a luxury hotel room in the Capital.
Special judge Geetanjali Goel exonerated Tharoor of all charges and gave him a clean chit in the matter. A detailed order is awaited.
“The accused is discharged,” the judge said in a virtual hearing. During the hearing, Tharoor thanked the judge: “Grateful Your Honour. It has been seven and a half years of absolute torture. I really appreciate it”. Later, in a statement, he said that justice has been done and it will allow everyone in the family to mourn Pushkar in peace.
“In our justice system, the process is all too often the punishment. Nevertheless, the fact that justice has been done, at last, will allow all of us in the family to mourn Sunanda in peace,” Tharoor said. He said that the order brought a significant conclusion to the “long nightmare which had enveloped me after the tragic passing of my late wife Sunanda”.
“I have weathered dozens of unfounded accusations and media vilification patiently, sustained by my faith in the Indian judiciary, which today stands vindicated,” the former Union minister said.
Public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, appearing for the police, said that they were yet to get a copy of the court’s order. “We have not got the order copy and only after analysing the issues we will think of filing an appeal with the approval of the concerned department,” he told HT.
Pushkar was found dead in the suite of a luxury hotel on the night of January 17, 2014, following which the police sealed the room and registered an FIR. The couple was staying at the hotel because Tharoor’s official bungalow was being renovated.
The case quickly grabbed national headlines and sparked a political tussle between the then ruling Congress party and its primary challenger, the Bharatiya Janata Party, months before general elections. Delhi Police registered the first FIR on January 1, 2015 against unidentified persons. It questioned Tharoor and others, and conducted a polygraph test on six people, including the minister’s help and staff.
On May 15, 2018, Delhi Police filed a 3,000-page charge sheet against Tharoor under sections 498-A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC. The maximum punishment for the offence is 10 years of imprisonment.