Shashi Tharoor's harassment, flirtatious-behavior drove Sunanda to suicide: Chargesheet
Delhi Police recently wrapped up its most expensive probe, the Sunanda Pushkar death case, after 1,577 days and many twists and turns. At the end, it has concluded that Shashi Tharoor's behavior, Pushkar's mental state and her medications jointly drove her to suicide. For this, the force roped in even the FBI and conducted the rare 'psychological autopsy' on many who knew the couple.
The mysterious death in the Leela Palace
Pushkar was mysteriously and controversially found dead in a hotel room in Delhi in January 2014. The development came amid speculations that she was planning to reveal Tharoor's alleged wrongdoings in the IPL, and his reported affair with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.
The twists and turns in the case
Throughout the years, there have been several flip-flops in the investigation. Initially, officials suspected suicide. Later reports marked the cause of death as "unnatural." An AIIMS doctor then claimed he was forced to issue a false report in the case. In January 2015, Delhi Police filed an FIR for the 'murder' of Pushkar. In the chargesheet filed this week, Tharoor was accused of abetting her suicide.
Emails, text messages and psychological analysis as evidence
Throughout the probe, many evidences emerged. During raids, they found emails from Pushkar, where she hinted she was feeling cheated and "didn't want to live." A relatively new technique of psychological analysis was conducted on five acquaintances, including Tharoor's help Narain Singh, which established marital-discord. Delhi Police also sought help from Canada's department of justice to retrieve deleted messages from the couple's Blackberry phones.
Chargesheet details physical and emotional torture, police say
The chargesheet mentions that Pushkar was "deeply saddened" by Tharoor's flirtatious behavior with Tarar and another woman called Katie, an officer claimed. The injuries on her body were due to assault by Tharoor the night before she died, it adds. About the flip-flops, a senior official said this isn't the first time it has happened, but people knew about Pushkar's case since she was a celebrity.
Tharoor protests "preposterous" chargesheet
Congress leaders support Tharoor, call it "political move"
Tharoor has called the chargesheet "preposterous" and said that he "intend(s) to contest it vigorously." Many Congress leaders, including Milind Deora, former finance minister P Chidambaram, former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy, and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president MM Hassan, have also expressed support, terming it a "political move." Former AAP leader Prashant Bhushan called it "pathetic and malafide."
