Confidential reports reveal Sunanda Pushkar was murdered

New Delhi: In a fresh twist to the death probe of Sunanda Pushkar, a confidential first report reveals that she was in fact murdered and that the investigating authorities were aware of the fact.

Deputy Commissioner of Police BS Jaiswal had then conducted Sunanda Pushkar’s death probe. In his first report of the crime, Jaiswal said that it was not a suicide.

Further adding to the probe, Sub Divisional Magistrate Alok Sharma ordered the Sarojini Nagar Police Station SHO to investigate the death probe as one of a murder case after the post-mortem report revealed the cause of death was poisoning, and the injuries found on Sunanda Pushkar’s body were caused by a blunt force along with a fresh injection mark.

“The cause of death to the best of my knowledge and belief, in this case, is poisoning. The circumstantial evidences are suggestive of alprazolam poisoning. All the injuries mentioned are caused by blunt force, simple in nature, non-contributing to death and are produced in a scuffle, except injury number 10 with an injection mark. Injury number 12 is teeth bite mark. The injuries number 1 to 15 is of various durations ranging from 12 hours to 4 days,” the report said.

The report also added Sunanda Pushkar’s body had scuffle marks. “These seems to have been caused due to scuffle between Sunanda Pushkar and her Husband Shashi Tharoor as per the statement of their personal attendant Narain Singh,” said the report.

The report was submitted to the Home Ministry along with one copy submitted to Vivek Gogia then Southern Delhi range Joint Commissioner of Police.

According to reports published in DNA, though the cause of death was found the Police did not file any case. The case was then transferred to CBI within a week who also visited the crime spot and when CBI started probing the death mystery, the then Southern Joint Commissioner Gogia managed to take back the case from the crime branch within four hours.

DNA further reported the then Commissioner of Police BS Bassi’s decision led to one year delay in filing FIR in Sunanda Pushkar’s case and the investigation was delayed for almost two years following the decision.

The confidential first report included separate annexures of post-mortem, chemical, biological and finger prints and every point indicated it was a murder.

The report also mentioned the teeth bite marks found on her body and the fresh injection mark on her hand. “Whether poisoned was orally given or injected is a matter to be probed,” the report stated.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead soon after she told she wanted to hold a press conference on January 17.

Sunanda who had checked in Hotel Leela Palace’s Room No 307 on 15 January around 5.46 and was found dead in suite Room No 345 on 17 January.

Before her death, around 3 pm Sunanda had asked her assistant to take out her white dress as she will hold a press conference for which she had also called in Journalist Nalini Singh. But hours later Sunanda was found dead in room no 345 around 9 PM.

Initial reports said she had moved to room No 345 a day before her death on 16 January.
Since Sunanda died within seven years of her marriage with former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, SDM Alok Sharma was given the case.

“The death was mysterious and everything pointed towards murder from day one,” said a senior police officer who was then investigating the case, OneIndia reported.