Sunanda murder: Tharoor questioned over IPL angle

Sleuths questioned Congress MP Shashi Tharoor Thursday over the ownership of Kochi Tuskers to find out if his murdered wife Sunanda Pushkar received equity on his behalf from a franchisee involved with the IPL team.

Tharoor was asked Wednesday to join the probe by the special investigation team (SIT) and his interrogation started around 11.30 a.m. Thursday.

He first reached Sarojini Nagar Police station in south Delhi and was later taken to Vasant Vihar's Anti Auto Theft Squad (AATS) office, where he was quizzed.

The SIT team had earlier questioned him Jan 19 at the same AATS office for around four hours.

A five-member SIT comprising Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Prem Nath and Additional DCP P.S. Kushwaha, besides three officers, asked Tharoor a number of questions, including those related to the now defunct IPL Kochi franchise.

DCP Mangesh Kashyap from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) was part of the questioning team for the first time.

According to sources, Kashyap questioned Tharoor over the ownership pattern of Kochi Tuskers to find out if Sunanda Pushkar was the front for him when she received Rs.75 crore equity from a franchisee involved in the Kochi team.

The IPL controversy had broken out in early 2010 when Congress Tharoor was minister of state for external affairs.

Tharoor's domestic help Narayan Singh and his driver Bajrangi have also been called for questioning.

Police have already questioned Singh twice, and have interrogated Bajrangi once.

Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi Thursday said: "After examining the answers of Tharoor in his last interrogation, we questioned him again. Some associates of Tharoor have also been asked to come for questioning."

Police had constituted the SIT to probe the murder after registering a murder case against unknown people Jan 1 this year.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room Jan 17, 2014.

The SIT probing the case has so far questioned at least 15 people, including Tharoor, his staff members, close friends of the couple and the staff of Leela Palace hotel - where Pushkar was found dead.

Pushkar's son Shiv Menon was quizzed by the SIT Feb 5 for around eight hours. Police sources had said that Menon was asked about the state of relations between Tharoor and Pushkar.

Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh was also questioned by SIT Jan 28 in the case.

Two journalists - Nalini Singh and Rahul Kanwal - have already deposed before SIT and admitted that Pushkar did call them as well before her death and spoke to them regarding exposing Shashi Tharoor and the IPL fiasco.

Police had quizzed Rahul Kanwal and Nalini Singh Jan 22 and 23, respectively.