Delhi Court discharges Shashi Tharoor of all charges citing lack of evidence
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s discharge by the trial court in the mysterious death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar on Wednesday is a grim reminder of how high-flying criminal cases are dubiously probed, prosecuted, and ultimately buried. Before we go further, remember, the Delhi Police functions under PM’s trusted Numeri Duo, Amit Shah. This case collapsed because the Delhi Police diluted it (Rajnath Singh was the HM at that time) and gave a weak hand to the prosecution; a classic case of how justice is sabotaged for the privileged. Let us look at the timeline of the mysterious death of Sunanda at the seven-star Hotel Leela.
Three days before Sunanda died, the then Union Minister Shashi Tharoor and she were publicly sparring over Tharoor’s adulterous relations with a Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar. The fight started on an Air India flight to Delhi when Sunanda peeked a look at her husband’s mobile when he was sleeping and lost her temper on the chats between Tharoor and Mehr. The exchange was allegedly exquisitely romantic and would have made Mills & Boon and Barbara Cartland franchises wring their hands in despair at how their rather voluminous content paled in comparison.
Special Judge Geetanjali Goel pronounced the order in a virtual hearing discharging Shashi Tharoor, the lone accused (how come he alone was accused?) in the mysterious death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.
When the flight landed in Delhi, Sunanda simply refused to go with her husband and straightaway landed in Hotel Leela along with her helper Narayan. Then husband-wife sparred in public over social media and she declared that she would expose her husband’s dirty business in Cricket IPL. She contacted four journalists to interview her on the dirty games of the cricket world. And within 24 hours, Sunanda was found dead. It was January 17, 2014, and UPA was still clinging to power. PGurus reported the details of the journalists contacted by Sunanda, hours before her death.[1]
It was BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who declared in March 2014 on Twitter that Sunanda’s death was by poison which was later ratified by the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) by October 2014. But the newly-elected Narendra Modi Government also played softly with Tharoor, and Modi even declared Tharoor as an Ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mission. What kind of a messaging this conveyed to the Delhi Police has now become evident – build a sloppy case, get slapped in the court, and move on?
PM Modi has made several such dubious calls – his meeting M Karunanidhi days before the 2G verdict and the then Finance Minister, late Arun Jaitley meeting a convicted J Jayalalithaa who was under house arrest, being the salient ones. But the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) report exposed the non-cooperation of Delhi Police at every step of finalization of the post-mortem report. Though Tharoor was questioned three times, he was never arrested.
Even with India’s premier institution AIIMS’s postmortem report, which clearly recorded 12 injury marks on Sunanda’s body and reported the presence of poison, Delhi Police kept quiet and even played all kinds of dirty tricks by sending the viscera samples (they had degraded after two years) to the FBI lab in the USA.
The AIIMS report alone was sufficient to proceed against Tharoor. Then why did the Delhi Police, under the Modi Government delay filing a charge sheet?[2]
In early 2018, Subramanian Swamy approached the Delhi High Court for the non-filing of the charge sheet. In a terrible judgment, Justice Muralidhar dismissed Swamy’s petition. Then the BJP leader went to Supreme Court and a notice was issued to Delhi Police.
Here is where more mischief was created. Before replying to the Supreme Court’s notice, Delhi Police, all of a sudden, files a charge sheet in May 2018 making Shashi Tharoor as the single accused but did not file under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Criminal Code (though an FIR was registered for murder) and put only charges of abetment to suicide and domestic violence.
While taking cognizance of the charge sheet, the then Magistrate asked several times about the AIIMS postmortem report showing 12 injury marks on Sunanda’s body and Delhi Police trotted out lame excuse after lame excuse. During the initial stages of the trial, Subramanian Swamy produced a copy of the Delhi Police Vigilance Department’s report on the lacunae of the first team’s probe (under the then Joint Director Vivek Gogia, who was also caught for sabotaging the Jessica Lal case) in sabotaging the case. But Delhi Police and Tharoor’s lawyers objected to an outsider (Swamy)’s arguments.
Later, in August 2019, Delhi Police orally argued for adding up murder charges (why orally?). Look at the stupidity or the carelessness or the purposeful move to sabotage this high-profile case. And now, Special Judge Geetanjali Goel pronounced the order in a virtual hearing discharging Shashi Tharoor, the lone accused (how come he alone was accused?) in the mysterious death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. Many legal experts say, the Court Order may not be uploaded in the public domain as the charges involve domestic violence charges (Sec 498A). Generally, in Sec 498A cases involving husband and wife quarrels will not be published in the public domain, say the experts.
Will the Delhi Police under Modi Government, headed by HM Amit Shah, which filed a diluted charge sheet, appeal to High Court? If yes, it has to be done within 90 days of the trial court verdict.
Will justice be delivered to Sunanda, who was found dead mysteriously in a seven-star hotel, located in the capital of India? Only PM Modi and Union HM Amit Shah can answer.
References:
[1] Why haven’t Barkha and Sagarika said anything about their communications with Sunanda? – May 10, 2017, PGurus.com
[2] Shashi Tharoor tried all tricks to fool AIIMS doctors during the post-mortem of Sunanda – May 28, 2017, PGurus.com
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Con man Shashi Taroor got his wife killed with the help of killers. He stayed in lokasabha as a guarantee and self protection. His connections to many in our court system and many congress slaves in the police allowed him to escape. ModiG and arun jaitley ji meeting well known leaders in jail is not a crime. Indira Jailed 130 thousand people . if any one went to see all these leaders is not a crime. The connections congress party has among the judiciary media and press is dangerous for the nation. looters like sonia vadra Chidambaram are living like kings and queens and are able to create political chaos unrest in the country.
Government may be requested to set up a “Mysterious Ministry” to handle these type of cases. Mr Modi may be thinking let the conscience of the persons concerned take care and punish whoever be the culprit
Though the chances are remote, the acquittal of Tharoor should be challenged in the SC. Rajnathi & Modi too should be charged with abetment.