Sunanda Pushkar was murdered, say Delhi police

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/06/sunanda-pushkar-murdered-delhi-police-indian-mp-shashi-tharoor

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The wife of a former high-ranking UN diplomat and Indian government minister was murdered and did not commit suicide as earlier suspected, Delhi’s police chief said on Tuesday.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in her five-star hotel room in the capital last January, after allegations that her husband, Shashi Tharoor, had been having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.

Pushkar, married to Tharoor since 2010, had been taking medication for various illnesses and early autopsy results suggested she may have overdosed on antidepressants and sleeping pills.

But speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Delhi’s police commissioner, Bhim Sain Bassi, said a new medical report had led investigators to register a case of murder “against unknown persons”.

“The report given to the Delhi police by the medical board says that her death was unnatural and it was because of poisoning,” Bassi said.

“The poison could have been administered orally or could also have injected, so keeping all these factors in mind, the case has been registered.”

The discovery of Pushkar’s body triggered speculation that she had killed herself after being humiliated by her husband.

Her death dealt a severe blow to the image of Tharoor, who was a cabinet minister at the time and remains a member of parliament for the Congress party, which lost elections last May.

In remarks carried by several media outlets, Tharoor was quoted on Thursday as saying he was stunned to hear his wife’s death was being treated as murder.

“All I want is that a comprehensive investigation be conducted and that the unvarnished truth should come out,” said the 58-year-old.

An acclaimed author, Tharoor served as undersecretary general during Kofi Annan’s leadership of the UN and was a candidate to replace him as secretary general in 2008.

After being beaten to the post by Ban Ki-moon, he then entered Indian politics as a member of parliament for the southern state of Kerala.

Tharoor had to resign from his first ministerial post in 2010 after revelations that his then girlfriend Pushkar had been given a free stake in a new Indian Premier League cricket team.