Sunanda Pushkar death:Court asks police to de-seal hotel suite

Team Udayavani, Sep 13, 2017, 9:20 AM IST

New Delhi :  A Delhi court today directed the city police to de-seal a five-star hotel suite where Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 2014. Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh asked the police to file a compliance report by September 26 while allowing it to take all required articles from the room for its investigation.

The court had on September 4 rapped the police for its “lethargic attitude” in its probe into the death of Pushkar while hearing a plea by the hotel’s management seeking de- sealing of the suite where she had died. “Due to the lethargic attitude of Delhi Police, the plaintiff (hotel) has already suffered a lot,” the court had said, observing that in the name of investigation, huge financial loss has been caused to the hotel.

The police had sought more time to complete the probe and said teams of forensic experts had visited the suite recently and collected various evidence, reports of which were awaited. “Till the reports clearly indicate ‘no further requirement’, the suite cannot be opened,” the police had said. The court had on July 21 ordered de-sealing of the suite within four weeks, saying the hotel cannot be put to unending hardship due to laxity on part of the police.

The court had, however, said the probe agency would be at liberty to visit the suite before filing a compliance report regarding de-sealing of the suite. It had also noted that no offence was found on part of the hotel. Pushkar was found dead in the suite of the South Delhi hotel on the night of January 17, 2014. The suite was sealed on that night itself for investigation. An FIR was registered by Delhi police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).