Sunanda case: Delhi Police under fire for not de-sealing hotel suite

New Delhi: The city police on Tuesday again came under fire from a Delhi court for not complying with its order to de-seal a five-star hotel suite where Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in 2014.

Metropolitan magistrate D. Singh said the hotel room should have been opened by Tuesday and directed the joint commissioner of police to appear before it and explain why the order hasn’t been complied with.

The court made this observation after the police filed a report stating that the results from the forensic laboratories were still awaited and that some more time be given to it. “Do you want to initiate proceedings against yourself? I have already passed an order. You think of legal consequences. It can't go on like this,” the court said. It also directed the police to file a list containing the names of members of its special investigating team probing the case.

While the South Delhi hotel has been appealing to the court to direct the police to de-seal the room, sealed for investigation after Ms Pushkar was found dead on January 17, 2014, the court too directed the police to do so on many occasions.

Hours after Ms Pushkar was found dead, the suite was sealed for probe. The police lodged an FIR on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

On September 12, the court directed the police to de-seal the suite and file a compliance report by Tuesday. The court then noted the hotel was suffering a huge financial loss, but allowed the police to take all articles from the room required for probe.

On that day, a DCP urged the room be de-sealed after the forensic report was submitted, wh-ich the court had rejected. On September 4, the court again took the police to task for its “lethargic attitude” in its probe and su-mmoned the DCP to explain why more time should be granted to it.