Seven Years after the death of Sunanda Pushkar, a Delhi Court has finally given a clean chit to her husband – the infamous Mr. Shashi Tharoor. He was charged with Abetment to Suicide and Cruelty amongst a few other charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Tharoor walked out free from all charges on the 18th of August 2021. However, the actual reason behind the death is still left unknown to the curious minds. Once again, we are left without any answers to the unsolved mystery of the sudden death of Sunanda Pushkar. The Court, acquitting Tharoor of the charges levied against him, has not yet observed the reason behind the sudden death. Was it suicide? Was it homicide? Was it really poison that took away her life? The reason for the bruises found on the body have still not been acknowledged.
We are aware that Dr. Sudhir Gupta, the head of the Medical Panel at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had mentioned that the death was caused due to poisoning, it wasn’t mentioned which poison was used or consumed. Also, the medical panel at AIIMS had left it upon the police to investigate and conclude whether the death was suicidal or homicidal, leaving behind an incomplete answer. Alternatively, the Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi had concluded that the poison was either injected or fed orally, based on the statement given by the Medical Panel at AIIMS. What happened to a proper conclusion to be formed by thorough investigation?
The beginning of proper police investigation was delayed for an extremely long period of more than 6 months. Even the inquiries were upheld for a long time by causing an unusual delay in filing the FIR. By the time the inquiries began, the evidences were already tampered with. And then the conclusion was abruptly derived from the medical reports without conducting thorough investigation of the evidences such as the photographs, the medicines along with other evidences found in the hotel suite or without even making interrogations. Left unspoken, it could be understood that all the concerned authorities (whether police or the medical authorities) were playing around with the case, not making proper investigations and also not providing proper investigative reports. Or maybe they were forced to play around and conceal the truth! Soon after, Dr. Gupta had said that a former colleague of Mr. Tharoor had forced him to mention that the death was caused under Natural Circumstances. That brings about a conflict with the recent acquittance of Mr. Tharoor.
We are still left unaware about the bruises found on the body of Mrs. Sunanda Pushkar. Among the many bruises, was a bruise from an injection syringe that has been left properly unanswered as well. The statement received by the domestic help of Mrs. Pushkar in which she stated that Pushkar had warned Tharoor about “disclosing everything”; the medicines found next to the body of Mrs. Pushkar amongst the many other evidences are still unacknowledged.
“Bail is the rule; Jail is an exception” is a term our Criminal laws revolve around. However, the observations that were sufficient to conclude Mr. Tharoor to be free of all charges could also be helpful in forming a clue as to who or what could be the reason behind the sudden death of Mrs. Sunanda Pushkar. Or else this case too could go down into the ocean of games of lock and key where a death has happened and no body has actually caused it.