Sunanda Pushkar death: Court reserves order on whether to summon Tharoor as accused
A Delhi court today reserved for June 5 its order on whether to summon Congress leader Shashi Tharoor as an accused in the Sunanda Pushkar death case.
By : migrator
Update: 2018-05-28 19:07 GMT
New Delhi
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal said he would pass the order after the counsel for prosecution said there was enough evidence to summon Tharoor.
The Delhi Police had on May 14 accused the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, of abetting Pushkar's suicide and told a city court that he should be summoned as an accused in the four-and-half year-old case, claiming there was sufficient evidence against him.
In a nearly 3,000-page charge sheet, the police has named Tharoor as the only accused while also alleging that he had subjected his wife to cruelty. It had also urged the court to summon Tharoor as an accused.
The couple's domestic servant, Narayan Singh, has been named one of the key witnesses in the case.
Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014.
The Congress leader has been charged under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
Under section 498A, the maximum punishment is up to three years of imprisonment, while jail term up to 10 years is prescribed under section 306.
An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).
According to prosecution sources, the charge sheet has mentioned that Pushkar was allegedly subjected to mental as well as physical cruelty. Tharoor has not been arrested in the case.
Take Sunanda’s mail as dying declaration’
“I have no desire to live... all I pray for is death.” This is what Sunanda Pushkar wrote in an e-mail to her husband Shashi Tharoor nine days before she was found dead in a luxury hotel here, the police on Monday told a local court.
The police also said that Sunanda’s death was due to poisoning and 27 Alprax tablets were found in her room though it was not clear how many pills she had consumed.
While quoting from the charge sheet, the Delhi Police told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal that Sunanda had injuries on her person received prior to her death which is reflected in the autopsy report.
In an e-mail to Tharoor on January 8, 2014, Sunanda had written, “I don’t care about the test. I have no desire to live...all I pray for is death,” the police said. Her mail and messages on social media should be taken as a “dying declaration”, the police told the court, which reserved for June 5 its order on whether to summon Tharoor as an accused in the case.
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