Final report in 8 weeks in Pushkar case, police tells HC

Police on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that it may file the final report in the 2014 death case of Sunanda Pushkar, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife, within eight weeks.

Police told a bench headed by Justice G.S. Sistani that it would adopt a new method of psychological analysis tests to help it reach a conclusion in the case.

These tests are conducted in foreign countries and its experts were available in India also, police said, adding that such tests were already being conducted in three cases in the country.

The police said it was likely to quiz a few people and based on evidence collected, it may file the final report within eight weeks.

The court asked the Delhi Police to file an affidavit within two weeks and observed that more than three years had passed.

The court listed the matter for October 26.

The court was hearing a plea by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy for a court-monitored probe by a multi-disciplinary Special Investigation Team led by the Central Bureau of Investigation into Pushkar's death.

Pushkar, 52, was found dead in a Delhi hotel room on January 17, 2014.

Swamy had claimed that Pushkar was killed as she had some crucial information related to the Indian Premier League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league.

He said the Enforcement Directorate must probe the IPL angle to the case.

The BJP leader said that a few days before her death, Pushkar had called a press conference so as to "expose" a serious corruption case.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for police, told the court in the last hearing that samples collected in the case had been sent to All India Institute of Medical Sciences three times and officials were sent to the US for lab reports and that the probe was at its fag end.

Swamy told the court that if probe agencies concluded that the death was due to poisoning it didn't matter what type of poison it was. He asked the bench to monitor the Special Investigation Team probe as police's decision to focus on the type of poison used was a "delaying tactic".

The court, however, said: "We are not monitoring investigation. We want to know where you (police) stand."

Swamy had sought a time-bound probe, saying "very influential people are involved in the case, with attempts to protect them". He contended that the case had been unnecessarily delayed.

--IANS

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