Charge Shashi Tharoor For Abetment To Suicide In Sunanda Pushkar Case: Delhi Police To Court

The Delhi Police on Saturday asked the court to frame murder charges against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in Sunanda Pushkar case. The Court was urged to frame charges under section 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (Offence Of Abetment To Suicide) of the IPC, news agency ANI reported.

Tharoor’s lawyer V Pahwa Refuting prosecution’s allegations said, “arguments made by prosecutor are contrary to the bare reading of the charge sheet. He read the evidence in bits & pieces and tried to connect with the charges proposed by him, contrary to the settled principles of law.”

"He didn't read opinions of experts who conducted psychological autopsy, who held that it's neither a case of homicide nor suicide but due to some unidentified biological reasons. If there is no evidence of suicide where is the question of abetment to suicide,” Pahwa agrued.

Last week, the prosecutor had told the court that Tharoor's relation with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar also added to Sunanda's mental agony.

The prosecutor had also apprised the court about Pushkar's friend and journalist Nalini Singh's statement, which is part of the charge sheet, that the relation between the couple was tense and bad. "I got a call from Sunanda who was crying and sobbing. I told her Mehr Tarar was nothing and she was everything. She wanted to take revenge from Tharoor and Terar. There was a lot of bad publicity in media. She told she helped Tharoor a lot in IPL matter. She had found some messages between Tarar and Tharoor. She refused to go to their house and instead went to Leela hotel. The relation between the couple was very bad," Singh had said in her statement.

Pushkar's death had created a sensation as it came shortly after a bitter spat between the couple over Twitter, over his alleged affair with Tarar. Pushkar, 51, was found dead in a suite of the Hotel Leela, a luxury hotel in Delhi's Chanakyapuri, on the night of January 17, 2014.

The couple were staying at the hotel as the official bungalow of Tharoor was being renovated at that time.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Delhi Police on Saturday asked the court to frame murder charges against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in Sunanda Pushkar case.
• Court was urged to frame charges under section 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (Offence Of Abetment To Suicide) of the IPC.
• V Pahwa Refuting prosecution’s allegations said, arguments made by prosecutor are contrary to the bare reading of the charge sheet.