Delhi Police making excuses: Tharoor opposes petition in Sunanda Pushkar’s death

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday opposed the condonation of the Delhi Police's revision petition in the case relating to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, saying the petition gave vague reasons for the delay and was only making an excuse in an attempt to justify the same.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Tharoor, pointed out to the Delhi high court that the revision petition was by the Delhi Police 15 months after the trial court cleared Tharoor of all charges on August 18, 2021.

Tharoor noted that the police’s petition does not provide any details as to when the decision was taken by the Directorate of Prosecution to file a revision petition or when the sanction was granted to file it. The State has given a vague explanation that the previous petition was filed in November 2021 by the office of additional standing counsel and objection could not be removed for a long time due to the rise in COVID-19 cases and thereafter a new counsel was appointed and it was found that the earlier petition has been lost.

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma admitted Tharoor's reply and listed the matter for further hearing on May 17.

Pushkar, a prominent face in Delhi circles, was found dead in a luxury hotel on the night of January 17, 2014. The couple had been staying in the hotel as Tharoor’s official bungalow was being renovated at the time.

Tharoor was charged under the provisions of the IPC related to cruelty and abetment to suicide but was not arrested in the case. Claiming no evidence against him, he had said that the post-mortem and other medical reports established that it was neither a suicide nor homicide.

The high court had in December 2022 issued notice to Tharoor only on the police’s application for condonation of delay, saying it will first decide this plea.

The police, through additional standing counsel Rupali Bandhopadhya, has filed the revision petition seeking setting aside of the trial court’s 2021 order and for direction to frame charges against Tharoor under sections 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Pahwa and lawyer Gaurav Gupta, also representing Tharoor, have contended that the police filed the revision petition after a delay of over 1 year and before issuing notice on the main plea, the court should hear him on the application for condonation of delay.

They have said several orders were earlier passed that during the pendency of the case, the record be not given to anybody except the parties.

As the counsel for the police said she has no objection to this, the high court had directed that the copies or documents relating to the case shall not be supplied to any person who is not a party here.