The Delhi High Court on Wednesday expressed unhappiness over the delay in the probe into the death of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar in 2014 and sought to know the status of the investigation so far.
A Bench of Justices G.S Sistani and Chander Shekhar referred to the fact that the incident took place in January 2014 and said more than three-and-half years have elapsed and nothing concrete has emerged so far.
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. The court's remarks came after Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain submitted that the Delhi Police was not treating BJP MP Subramanian Swamy's plea as an adversarial one and the investigation was being conducted with “utmost diligence”.
‘Probe to end soon’
The ASG also said that the investigation was now at its fag end and a conclusion will be arrived at soon. He contended that transfer of investigation at this stage to any other agency would only delay the ongoing probe. The law officer, representing the police, told the Bench that senior police officers were present in the court and were carrying the complete case diary for its perusal.
The Bench then observed that it was not fair to “look into or monitor the investigation”, but would “certainly like to know where the investigation stands as of today.”
“We want to know as to what happened till date. It’s almost over three years but nothing concrete has come up as of today,” the Bench said, adding that “certainly it (the probe) cannot be unending”.
Matter fixed for Sept 21
It, however, clarified that the monitoring of the probe was not under the domain of the judiciary and the court was not inclined to give any direction to that effect. Mr. Swamy, who has filed a petition seeking a court-monitored CBI-led special probe into Pushkar's death, said he was not seeking exclusion of the Delhi Police from the SIT.
The BJP leader said various reports have suggested that Pushkar's death was unnatural but delay in getting the scientific report was an attempt to sabotage the probe.
Meanwhile, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Tharoor's stepson Shiv Menon, submitted that he appreciated the stand of the ASG on behalf of the police.
The court has now fixed the matter for September 21, when the ASG will inform the court on the progress.