HC unhappy at delay in Sunanda Pushkar death probe

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday slammed the city police over the delay in probing the death of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar in 2014, saying "we want to know what happened for three years".

A bench headed by Justice G.S. Sistani said the incident happened in January 2014 and yet there has been no report from the police.

"We would like to know where you have reached. You have made things peculiar. We hear cases that are older. For us, this case is as good or bad as any other matter. We want to know what happened for three years," said the bench.

Delhi Police told the court that there was no delay in the probe and technical investigation was not in their hands, and some agencies, as well as AIIMS, were involved in the probe and hence it was taking some time.

The case is heavily dependent on scientific investigation. The samples have gone to AIIMS three times, officials also went to the USA for lab reports and the probe is at its fag end, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain appearing for police told the bench.

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

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.

During the hearing, Swamy told the court that if probe agencies conclude that death was due to poison then it doesn't matter what type of poison it was. He asked the bench to monitor the SIT probe as police's decision to chase the poison is a "delaying tactic".

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

The court asked police to file a status report on the progress of the investigation after two weeks and posted the matter for hearing on September 21.

Swamy has sought a time-bound probe, saying "very influential people are involved in the case, leading to attempts to protect them, and the matter has faced a lot of unnecessary delay already".

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

--IANS

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