Sunanda Pushkar died of poisoning, says SDM report

Sunanda Pushkar, wife of union minister Shashi Tharoor, died of poisoning, a report by the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) probing her death said Tuesday.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate Alok Sharma has asked police to find out the cause of poisoning and also to specifically probe the case as that of murder or suicide.

"Sunanda's post-mortem report reveals that she died due to poison. But it will be too early to say before her viscera report if she had consumed poison or the drug consumed by her acted as poison," Sharma told IANS.

The magistrate, who got the post-mortem examination report from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), declined to reveal its contents, saying the report was sealed.

"I have ordered a probe into the death of Sunanda Pushkar as per the findings of her post-mortem report," he said.

Police sources said the autopsy report submitted to the sub-divisional magistrate on Monday said Pushkar died due to drug overdose.

The autopsy also found over a dozen injury marks in the upper extremity of her upper body - on one arm, hand, chin, and neck regions - and interpreted these as "scuffle marks", sources said.

The post-mortem examination was conducted by a three-member team of doctors headed by Sudhir K. Gupta.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in her room at a hotel here Friday. Police investigators found two strips of Alprax drug from her hotel room.

"The huge quantity of consumption of such drug may affect functioning of brain and lead to a comatose situation," said a police officer.

Pushkar's death followed days of a spat on social networking sites involving her and a Pakistani woman journalist who Pushkar said was pursuing her husband, union minister Shashi Tharoor.

The journalist has denied the charge. At one time, Pushkar said she would divorce the minister. Later, she and Tharoor issued a statement saying they were happily married.