The police today told the Delhi High Court that it now intended to embark upon a new mode of investigation, called forensic psychology, after having explored all other avenues in the death case of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar.
A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Chander Shekhar, which gave a go-ahead to the Delhi Police to carry out the new mode of probe, was however anguished that the investigation in the three-year-old case was still dragging on. The police said the investigation through forensic psychology would take another eight weeks to conclude and also entail the personal questioning of certain individuals.
The bench said the probe had started in 2014 and, now in September 2017, the agency wanted to pursue an additional and a new mode of investigation.
"Should any investigative agency drag the probe for so long," the court asked.
It also hoped there would not be any further delay in the submission of the final report as Pushkar's son, Shiv Menon, has moved the court as he was "extremely concerned" to know what happened.
"He is a blood relation. He wants to know. His concern should be of paramount importance," the bench said.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, appearing for the probe agency, said the police has not left any stone unturned and every possible angle has been examined, but towards the conclusion of the investigation, it came across the new methodology of forensic psychology.
Forensic psychology is an emerging field which forms an integral part of criminal investigation, prison and profiling systems, now being used in some developed countries.
Defending the decision to adopt the new mode of probe, the ASG said the police came across the methodology only recently and, as it did not want to leave any stone unturned, it decided to utilise this investigative tool as well. Thereafter, the bench told the police to file an affidavit within two weeks placing on record the approximate time that would be taken to conclude its probe.
During the hearing, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who had sought a court-monitored SIT probe into Pushkar's death, said the franchisee cricket tournament Indian Premier League was also an angle which needed to be examined in the case. Therefore, the Enforcement Directorate should be made a party in this matter, he said.
The court, however, refrained from going into this aspect saying it will consider it at an appropriate stage. "We do not want to create any distraction at this moment," the court said and listed the matter for further hearing on October 26.
Pushkar was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a suite of a five-star hotel in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014.
Swamy also argued that the FIR in the case was lodged after considerable delay and even the post-mortem report was examined four times without any change in the findings on how Pushkar had died. The ASG, however, said that the autopsy report was examined several times due to inconsistencies in it, which Swamy termed as "fudging".
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