Sunanda Pushkar

NEW DELHI: Sunanda Pushkar ’s postmortem examination showed 15 bruises on her body due to the use of blunt force, the prosecution on Tuesday said before a special court hearing a suicide case against Pushkar’s husband, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor .

The prosecutor, Atul Srivastava, made the arguments on framing of charges of abetment and cruelty against Tharoor before special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar. Srivastava said Pushkar’s death was due to poisoning and the injury marks on her body were 12 hours to at least four-days-old.

Srivastava argued that mental as well as physical cruelty drove Pushkar to commit suicide. The court was told that Tharoor married Pushkar on Aug 22, 2010, and her death occurred on January 17, 2014. This was the Congress MP’s third marriage.

It was argued that there was a “scuffle” between the couple and the relationship was “tense and bad”. Relying on the statement of a witness, journalist Nalini Singh, the prosecution argued that Pushkar was once “crying and sobbing” after she read the chats between her husband and Pakistan-based columnist Mehr Tarar.

According to the prosecution, Pushkar was disturbed with the relationship between Tarar and Tharoor. The situation, Srivastava added, led to “altercation” and “physical fights” between the couple.

The prosecutor also read out a letter allegedly sent by Tharoor to Tarar. However, senior counsel Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Tharoor, objected saying it might hamper his client’s reputation and jeopardise the case. Pahwa also requested to conduct the proceedings in-camera.

The judge directed the public prosecutor to refrain from reading out the contents of the alleged letter.

The arguments on framing of the charges will continue on August 31.

On June 5, 2018, the magisterial court had found “sufficient grounds” to proceed against Tharoor in the case and had taken cognisance of the chargesheet against him.

Pushkar was found dead on the evening of January 17, 2014. Though it was murder probe with the FIR registered under IPC Section 302 (murder), police charged Tharoor under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 498A (cruelty by husband) of the Indian Penal Code on May 28.

