Sunanda murder: Inventory of articles not given to board, says report

The AIIMS board, which had conducted the postmortem of Sunanda Pushkar, the wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's wife, were not provided "the inventory of the articles found at the crime scene", the latest autopsy report said.

The third and latest autopsy report, which was handed over to Delhi Police Dec 29, 2014, has ruled out Pushkar's natural death and confirmed her cause of death due to poisoning "oral or via injection".

However, it notes that inventory of articles collected from the spot needed to be placed before the board.

"Inventory of the articles found at the crime scene has neither been placed on record nor handed over to the board. We have been asking for it. It needs to be placed before the board," said the report, a copy of which was accessed by IANS.

"Each of the above points is important to find out the truth from the crime scene as well as the post-mortem examination, as mentioned in the authoritative book written by the well-known expert S Ritz-Timme," it said.

It also mentioned that the injuries caused on the body of Pushkar were from "forceful objects".

"There is a bite mark on the hand. In the hotel room, pieces of broken glass were found on the carpet and near the curtain (suggestive of a scuffle)," the report said.

It also noted a big urine patch mark found on the bed-sheet below Pushkar's body.

"A big patch mark of urination was found on the bed-sheet. It is due to either deep sleep or the unconscious state of the victim for long hours. Later on, the CFSL report found cotinine, alcohol and acetaminophine traces in the urine sample," the report said.

Pushkar's three-page First Information Report (FIR), filed Jan 1, also said that circumstantial evidence have also pointed out to "alprazolam poisoning" as the reason for her death.

"All the injuries mentioned are caused by blunt force, simple in nature, non-contributing to death and are produced in scuffle, except injury number 10 which is an injection mark. Injury number 12 is a teeth bite mark. The injuries number 1 to 15 are of various duration ranging from 12 hours to four days," the FIR said.

Pushkar was found dead in her room in south Delhi's five-star Leela Palace Jan 17, 2014. Police registered a murder case based on a final medical report by AIIMS which said she died due to poisoning.

The latest report from autopsy board also said that Pushkar, 52, was neither ill nor suffering from any disease prior to her death.

"She was a normal, healthy individual. In view of the above analysis, death due to natural cause is ruled out. The cause of death in this case is poisoning. The poisoning is through oral route, however injectable route too also can't be ruled out," the report said.

The AIIMS' medical board had given three reports concerning Pushkar Jan 20, Sep 27 and Dec 29.