Charges against me preposterous, baseless; will continue to vigorously contest these: Tharoor

Soon after a Delhi court summoned him in a case relating to death of his wife, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor today dubbed the charges against him as "preposterous and baseless" and the product of a malicious and vindictive campaign against him that he will vigorously contest.

In a statement, he said he maintains steadfast conviction that ultimately the truth will prevail through the judicial system.

"I would like to reiterate my position that I find the charges preposterous and baseless, the product of a malicious and vindictive campaign against myself.

"I will continue to vigorously contest these charges and maintain steadfast conviction that ultimately the truth will prevail through the judicial system that we are privileged to have in our country," he said.

He, however, refused to speak further and urged the media to respect his and his family's right to privacy as the matter is sub-judice.

"I will refrain from commenting on this issue further until such time as the next scheduled hearing of the case," he said.

Tharoor said he has taken note of the developments in the case being heard by the Patiala House Court in relation to the circumstances surrounding the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

He said from the very start, he has fully cooperated with the investigating team and continue to maintain that due legal process must be followed in all aspects related to this case.

His remarks came soon after the Delhi court summoned him on July 7, saying there were sufficient grounds to proceed against him.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal took cognisance of Tharoor's alleged offences of abetment of suicide and committing cruelty towards Pushkar.

"I have heard the prosecutor. I have gone through and perused the charge sheet and the documents filed along with it. On the basis of police report (charge sheet), I take cognisance of offence of abetment of suicide of late Sunanda Pushkar and committing cruelty upon her by Dr Shashi Tharoor," the judge said.

"There exists sufficient grounds to proceed against Tharoor for commission of offences of Section 306 and 498 A of IPC. Issue summons to him for appearance for July 7," the court added.

The Delhi Police had on May 14 accused the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram of abetting Pushkar's suicide and told a city court that he should be summoned as an accused in the four-and-half year-old case, claiming there was sufficient evidence against him.

Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014.