The Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered the city police to file the final chargesheet in the case of Sunanda Pushkar’s death within eight weeks and cause no further delays, ANI reported.
Pushkar, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s wife, was found dead inside her suite at the Leela Palace in New Delhi on January 17, 2014. A Special Investigation Team of the Delhi Police has been looking into the case.
The Delhi High Court and the Patiala House Court have repeatedly reprimanded the police for the delay in investigation. On September 4, the Patiala court had criticised the police for its “lethargic attitude” in the investigation and asked the deputy commissioner of police to explain why they should get more time to complete the investigation.
On August 30, the Delhi High Court had told the police it wants to know where the investigation stands. “You have made things peculiar. We want to know what happened for three years,” the bench had said.
Pushkar’s death has been shrouded in mystery since she was found dead. In January 2015, the Delhi Police had registered a murder case after a board at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences had concluded that she had died of poisoning. The panel had later found that Pushkar had overdosed on an anti-anxiety drug.
This report reaffirmed the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation’s conclusion that Pushkar had not died of poisoning from polonium or any other radioactive substance. A third medical panel has been unable to determine the substance that led to her death.
Pushkar’s husband Shashi Tharoor has been questioned in the case a number of times, though he has maintained that he does not suspect foul play in his wife’s death. He believes that she had died after overdosing on medication.
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