Delhi Police awaiting final autopsy report in Pushkar's death

Delhi Police is waiting for the final autopsy report from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) before proceeding in the investigation of the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of the former union minister Shashi Tharoor.

According to police sources, a Delhi Police team which was formed after the mysterious death of Pushkar Jan 17 was still waiting for the final autopsy report from the AIIMS. Pushkar was found dead in south Delhi's Leela hotel.

Police had sought the AIIMS's views after they found contradictions in the autopsy report submitted to the sub-divisional magistrate and the viscera report which came a few days after the autopsy.

"The final report is awaited," a police officer told IANS.

AIIMS forensic department head Sudhir Gupta had revived the controversy a few days ago, by claiming that he was pressurised to write in his post mortem report that the death was "natural". On Thursday, he had said that his report was based on the principles and ethics of medicine.

The post-mortem examination which was submitted to magistrate June 20 had said the cause of death was "sudden" and Pushkar died of "drug overdose". The autopsy also shown "Alprazolam poisoning".

Meanwhile, the viscera report had suggested of "no poisoning" and "no traces of Alprax tablets".

During investigation, police had recovered three empty strips of Alprax tablets from the hotel's room number 345 where Pushkar was found dead.

Sources in the AIIMS said that the report was delayed due to the internal face-off among the doctors on the issue postings.

On Thursday, the controversy over Pushkar's death deepened as senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the matter since it could be concerned with her threat to disclose "money-laundering" in the Indian Premier League.