First the investigators claimed that Sunanda committed suicide consuming poison and an inquest proceeding was initiated.
Sunanda Pushkar's mysterious death in suite number 345 of the posh Leela Palace hotel on January 17, 2014, left investigators baffled for the past four years and four months. First the investigators claimed that Sunanda committed suicide consuming poison and an inquest proceeding was initiated.
SDM at Vasant Vihar, Alok Sharma inspected the crime scene and conducted inquest proceedings. The post-mortem examination was conducted at AIIMS on January 18, 2014. The autopsy report was handed over to Sharma on January 20. On January 21, he directed SHO Sarojini Nagar to investigate the matter as it did not seem to be a suicide case. However, the police did not accept the AIIMS report and asked the board to re-examine the case.
Interestingly, a report prepared by then DCP BS Jaiswal and submitted to then Southern Delhi Range Joint Commissioner of Police Vivek Gogia clearly stated they knew right from the beginning that it was not a suicide case.
The autopsy report that said: "The cause of death to the best of my knowledge and belief in this case is poisoning. The circumstantial evidence suggests to alprazolam poisoning. All injuries mentioned are caused by blunt force, simple in nature, non-contributing to death and are produced in scuffle, except injury number 10 with an injection mark. Injury number 12 is teeth bite mark. The injuries (1 to 15) are of various durations ranging from 12 hours to 4 days."
The Crime Branch had also visited the crime scene. The decision of then Commissioner of Police BS Bassi led to delay in the registration of an FIR for a year. After the final report of AIIMS, the Delhi Police registered an FIR on January 1, 2015 against unidentified persons section 302 (murder) of IPC.
After reports appeared that Sunanda wanted to expose IPL Kochi financial irregularities carried out by Tharoor, the Delhi Police wrote to the Enforcement Directorate to probe into the matter. The case is still being probed. The Delhi Police sent Sunanda's viscera samples to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's lab in the US. The Delhi Police also formed an SIT. After almost a year, the cops received the FBI report which failed to identify the poison that caused her death.
In three years, the SIT team members were changed thrice. In 2016, a former Special Cell officer Manishi Chandra joined South District and he was made the head of SIT. He concluded that the Sunanda committed suicide. The chargesheet filed also booked Tharoor for abetment of suicide and for subjecting her to cruelty in marriage.
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