Sunanda Pushkar case: Subramanian Swamy asks Rajnath Singh to set up SIT

In a letter to home minister Rajnath Singh, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has sought an intervention in ordering a Supreme Court or high court-monitored SIT probe into the “mysterious death” of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s wife, Sunanda Pushkar.

In a letter to Mr Singh, Dr Swamy questioned the inordinate delay in the probe alleging that the Delhi police was not even taking elementary steps necessary in a criminal investigation when it has been established that poison was found in her body and she died an unnatural death.

Dr Swamy said it was the duty of the police to take the probe to its logical conclusion but the investigators are yet to move anywhere near filing a chargesheet.

“The FBI of the US was also roped in to determine the nature of the poison and despite the delay, the bureau was able to pinpoint the name of the poison that was found in her body... But since August 2015, till today, the Delhi police has been dragging its feet even on elementary steps,” he said.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead inside her suite at a five-star hotel here in January 2014, a day after she was involved in a spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on Twitter over the latter’s alleged affair with Mr Tharoor, the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram.

“I think it is appropriate to set up an SIT and have it monitored by the high court or the Supreme Court... If, however, you feel that an impartial, proper investigation and filing of the chargesheet can still be done by the Delhi police, I will defer to your wisdom in not approaching the Supreme Court or high court in a PIL to direct a court-monitored SIT probe,” said Dr Swamy in the letter.

Sunanda’s Pushkar viscera samples were sent to the FBI lab in Washington DC in February last year to determine the kind of poison that killed her after an AIIMS medical board identified poisoning as the reason behind her death.

The FBI had endorsed the AIIMS report on poisoning and also said that a “dangerous chemical” was present in her body that may have killed her.

Dr Swamy had earlier written two letters, one in July, 2014 and another in December 2014, to Mr Singh on the case.