NEW DELHI: Four years after
Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in suite number 345 of the
Leela Hotel, the Delhi Police have filed a chargesheet and named her husband and
Congress MP
Shashi Tharoor as an accused in the case.
The chargesheet was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh at the Patiala House court. Police have concluded that it was a case of suicide and not murder. The FIR in the case was filed under section 302
IPC.
Sources said that in the final police report, Tharoor has been charged under section 306 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which pertain to abetment to suicide and cruelty to wife.
Pushkar was found dead in suite number 345 of Leela hotel in south Delhi on January 17, 2014. The suite was sealed that night itself for investigation and de-sealed last month. An FIR under IPC Section 302 (murder) was registered on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons.
In April, the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case told the Supreme Court that a draft final report had been prepared after conducting "thorough professional and scientific investigations" and would be submitted in the concerned trial court after "legal scrutiny".
"The SIT, after conducting thorough professional and scientific investigations, has prepared a draft police report under section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code and sent the same to the prosecution department of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi for legal scrutiny," it said.
"As soon as the draft police report is received after legal vetting by the prosecution department, the same shall be submitted before the competent trial court for consideration and concomitant judicial proceedings," the affidavit, filed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Romil Baaniya who is supervising the SIT probe, had said.
The apex court had ordered an SIT probe following a petition by BJP leader Subramaian Swamy alleging that the Delhi Police was not conducting proper investigation in the case and the FIR was filed almost one year after the incident.
Prior to this, Swamy had appealed to the Delhi High Court but his petition was summarily dismissed as a "textbook example of political interest litigation".
