A post mortem has shed new light on the high-profile case of Sunanda Pushkar, 51, who was found dead in a hotel suite in New Delhi on 17 January, 2014 amid reports that she may have committed suicide.
Pushkar was allegedly driven to take her own life due to her strained relationship with her husband senior Indian politician and former UN envoy Shashi Tharoor, Delhi police told Special Judge Ajay Kumar on Tuesday.
Injury marks found on her forearms, legs, and arms were between 12 hours and at least four days old and caused by a blunt force, the police added.
Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava said that a scuffle between the two, a few days prior to her death, may have been a factor in her suicide.
The prosecutor also cited Tharoor’s alleged infidelity with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, referencing e-mails in which Tharoor addressed her as “my darlingest”.
"There are various letters which shows how intimate Tharoor and Tarar were to each other," he added.
Pushkar’s death followed a bitter argument between Tharoor and his wife over Tharoor’s alleged relationship with Tarar.
A series of intimate messages between Tarar and Tharoor were posted on the latter’s twitter account the day before Pushkar was found dead.
Tharoor, a senior Congress party politician and former minister, is currently on bail after being charged under the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 498-A (husband subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment to suicide).
