Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in suite number 345 of Hotel Leela on the night of January 17, 2014. (File photo)
The Patiala House court on Tuesday directed Delhi Police to de-seal the room of Hotel Leela where Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead. The court further granted liberty to Delhi Police to take whatever they require from the room for investigation. Pushkar was found dead at the hotel’s suite number 345 on the night of January 17, 2014, and the suite has been sealed by police ever since. The court also directed Delhi Police to file a compliance report in the matter by September 26.
The court had pulled up Delhi Police for its ‘lethargic’ action on the issue of de-sealing the suite on September 4 and had asked the investigating agency whether they will lock a house indefinitely after a murder. “You visit a crime scene and if a body is found in a house, will you lock the house indefinitely? Either you (police) have the evidence or you don’t… Evidence after some point of time cannot be existing,” Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh had said. The court had also asked Delhi Police as to who will “pay” for the losses suffered by the hotel in all these months.
Delhi Police had asked for more time, stating that the report by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) was awaited. Police had submitted an application saying that they need the suite sealed till the FSL says that they don’t need it any “further”. Earlier, police, in their status report, had said they have not been able to reach a “definitive conclusion” regarding Pushkar’s death.
An FIR was registered by Delhi police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder) in Sunanda Pushkar death case.
