Sunanda Pushkar found dead

Pushkar, 52, had married Shashi Tharoor in August 2010

Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, wife of Union minister Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in her room at Leela Palace hotel here on Friday, police said. "Her dead body was found in her room," Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told Reuters, declining details.

"There was no sign of foul play or any struggle," Abhinav Kumar, the minister's aide, told reporters outside the hotel.

A police officer said: "The minister informed us of the death and it seems it is a case of suicide."

An hour before the news broke on TV channels, Tharoor, an avid Twitter user with over two million followers, said in a tweet he would miss the Jaipur Literature festival later this month because of his wife's illness.

Pushkar, 52, had married Tharoor in August 2010.

Pushkar and Tharoor, the Union minister of state for human resource development, were at the centre of a controversy after reports emerged that she was upset over reported text and tweet messages between her husband and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar. Tharoor and Tarar were allegedly having an affair. Tarar had denied an affair with the thrice-married Tharoor.

On Friday, Tharoor was present at a daylong Congress session, which ended around 5 pm.

Tarar said she was "absolutely shocked" to learn of Pushkar's death. "What the hell. Sunanda. Oh my God," the 45-year-old Lahore-based journalist said in a Twitter post.

"I just woke up and read this. I'm absolutely shocked. This is too awful for words. So tragic I don't know what to say. Rest in peace, Sunanda," she said in another tweet.

Asked if she knew Tharoor, Tarar had said on Thursday, "I met him in April last year for an interview in India. Then I met him in June in Dubai in a social gathering. I have been in touch with him once in a while on Twitter and email."