A Delhi court on Friday ordered the police to de-seal the room in Hotel Leela Palace, where Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead, The Times of India reported. The court wants room 345 of the hotel to be put back into use within four weeks. Pushkar was found dead under mysterious circumstances in January 2014.
Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma said the hotel cannot be made to suffer because of the investigating team’s inability to find the cause of Pushkar’s death.
“As per the status report filed by the investigating agency (Delhi Police), they have not been able to reach to a definitive conclusion regarding the cause of death of the victim and for this reason Leela Hotel can not be made to suffer continuously,” Sharma said.
The hotel claims it has suffered a loss of Rs 50 lakh because the room has been sealed for the last three years as the room costs between Rs 55,000 and Rs 61,000 a night.
“The hotel continues to suffer a loss with each passing day. The continuous sealing of the suite is also affecting the use of other rooms/suites on the same floor,” the hotel said in a statement, according to PTI.
The hotel officials said the room no longer needs to be sealed as the police and the forensic teams have visited the suite multiple times.
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