The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy seeking an investigation into the death of Sunanda Pushkar, PTI reported. Pushkar, the wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in her hotel room in New Delhi on January 17, 2014.
The court observed on Thursday that Swamy appeared to have concealed information, which he should have disclosed at the first instance. It said that Swamy’s plea was perhaps an example of a “political interest litigation” dressed up as a Public Interest Litigation.
The Centre and the Delhi Police told the court that they did not accept Swamy’s view that Tharoor had influenced the investigation into Pushkar’s death.
Sunanda Pushkar’s son Shiv Menon had moved an application in the court on August 1, seeking to conclude the investigation into his mother’s death in a time-bound manner. Menon is Pushkar’s son from her first marriage.
During the hearing, Menon’s counsel questioned Swamy’s interest in filing a plea in Pushkar’s case. “It is not a Public Interest Litigation, but a ‘Publicity Interest Litigation’,” he said. Responding to this argument, Swamy said he did not need any publicity as he was an MP.
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