Shashi Tharoor
The Delhi Police on Monday filed charge-sheet in Delhi's Patiala House Court accusing former Union minister and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor of abetting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.
Tharoor is the only person who has been arrayed as an accused and charged with abetment to suicide in the case. The police have concluded that it was a case of suicide and not murder.
Terming the Delhi Police charge sheet "preposterous", Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said he intends to contest it "vigorously".
"I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part," he tweeted.
"It does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!," Tharoor added.
Not just this, few minutes later, Tharoor announced that he would stay off Twitter for a while.
The police in its charge-sheet, which runs into around 3,000 pages, has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty. The charge-sheet was filed under section 306 (abetment of suicide) and 498A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The police have filed a 3000-page charge-sheet in the case four years after Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel in Delhi. The police filed the charge sheet in the mysterious death of Pushkar before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmendra Singh. The next hearing in the case is on May 24. The Delhi Police also urged the Delhi's Patiala House Court to summon Shashi Tharoor as an accused in the next hearing.
Delhi Police today said that the charge sheet was finalised on the basis of "medico-legal and forensic evidence".
"On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as opinion of psychological autopsy experts, the charge sheet was filed. The matter is sub judice," said a Delhi Police spokesperson.
Psychological autopsy is a reconstructive mental state evaluation to understand an individual's mental state at and around the time of death for the purpose of identifying the cause of death.
Sunanda Pushkar death: All about the high-profile case
Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in suite number 345 of the Leela Hotel in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014. The suite was sealed that night itself for investigation.
The couple had entered into wedlock on August 22, 2010.
The charge sheet, which includes several annexures, said that Pushkar died within three years, three months and 15 days of her marriage with Tharoor, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram.
An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).
