Sunanda Pushkar death: Court directs police to de-seal Hotel Leela’s suite

Patiala House Court directed the Delhi Police to de-seal five-star hotel, Leela’s suite where Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar wife was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 2014.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ishwar Singh earlier in the day appeared before the court to submit Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) team report and demanded more time for investigation.

The Patiala House Court denied the police extension on the grounds that the suite has been sealed for three and a half years and that the applicant is facing huge financial losses due to the seal.

Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh has asked the police to file a compliance report by September 26 and has allowed the investigating team to take all required articles from the room for its investigation.

The court earlier this month had rapped the police for its ‘lethargic attitude’ in its probe into the death of Sunanda Pushkar while hearing a plea by the hotel’s management seeking de-sealing of the suite where her body was found.

Then the court had said, “Due to the lethargic attitude of Delhi Police, the Leela Hotel has already suffered a lot.”

Pushkar was found dead in the suite of the hotel in South Delhi on January 17, 2014 midnight. Police had sealed the suite on the night itself for investigation. Police had registered an FIR on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under Indian Penal Code section 302 (murder).