Shashi Tharoor wife died 'unnatural death' Published duration 18 January 2014

image copyright AP image caption The couple had denied problems in their marriage

The wife of Indian minister Shashi Tharoor, found dead in a Delhi hotel room on Friday, died a "sudden and unnatural death", an autopsy has found.

Doctors said there were "injury marks" on Sunanda Pushkar's body, but did not say if they were linked to her death.

Mr Tharoor, who was earlier admitted to hospital with chest pains, took his wife's body away for cremation.

The couple became embroiled in a row on Wednesday after Twitter messages suggested he was having an affair.

Dr Sudhir Kumar Gupta, one of the three medical staff who carried out the post-mortem examination, said full results would be released in the next two days.

"There were certain injury marks on the body of Sunanda Pushkar, but the nature of these cannot be revealed," he said.

Dr Gupta added that initial results showed no sign of poison in her body, but more tests would be carried out.

Mr Tharoor's aide, Abhinav Kumar, had earlier told reporters that Ms Pushkar had appeared to be asleep.

"There were no signs of any foul play or any struggle. She had no sign of poisoning or anything," he said.

A public row broke out on Wednesday when seemingly private messages between Mr Tharoor and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar were published on his Twitter feed.

Ms Pushkar, 52, said she had gone into her husband's account and published the messages.

She accused Ms Tarar of stalking her husband - an allegation denied by the Pakistani journalist.

Ms Pushkar and Mr Tharoor later insisted they were happily married and blamed "unauthorised tweets" for causing confusion.

Mr Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, was forced to resign from his first ministerial position in 2010 amid controversy over his involvement in bidding for a cricket team.

Ms Pushkar had allegedly received a free stake in the Indian Premier League franchise he was bidding for.

He was appointed minister of state for human resource development in 2012.

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