Sunanda Pushkar Death Case: Shashi Tharoor Opposes Delhi Police’s Plea To Condone Delay In Moving High Court Against His Discharge

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has opposed a plea moved by Delhi Police seeking to condone delay in moving the Delhi High Court in filing appeal against trial court's decision to discharge him in the Sunanda Pushkar death case.

Tharoor has submitted that police’s application seeking condonation of delay lacks details of the decision taken by Directorate of Prosecution in preferring the revision petition or when sanction was granted regarding it.

The Congress MP has further said that the police has given a “vague explanation” in explaining the delay that a previous petition, which was filed in November 2021 by the office of additional standing counsel, was lost.

The police in the application has stated that the objection could not be removed from the plea for a long time in view of COVID-19 pandemic and that a new counsel was thereafter appointed to pursue the matter.

However, Tharoor said that the prosecution is only “making an excuse” in order to justify the “inordinate and inexplicable delay” caused in filing the revision petition.

As the matter was listed before Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma today, the court directed that Tharoor’s response be brought on record while listing the case for hearing on May 17.

The Delhi Police had filed chargesheet against Tharoor for offences under Section 498A (cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

Pushkar had been found dead in January 2014 at a hotel in New Delhi. An FIR was filed in 2015. In May 2018, Tharoor was charged with abetment to suicide and marital cruelty under the Indian Penal Code.

Discharging Tharoor of the charges of cruelty and abetment to suicide, the trial court had observed that there was no prima facie wilful conduct on his part which was likely to drive Pushkar to commit suicide.

It was also observed that in absence of sufficient material, Tharoor cannot be compelled to face the rigmaroles of a criminal trial.

The special judge had also observed that none of the reports submitted by Doctors and Autopsy Board confirmed the cause of death as suicide.