Wife of former Indian minister murdered, say police

The wife of a former Indian federal minister and UN diplomat was murdered and did not take her own life as earlier suspected, police said in New Delhi yesterday, in what has become a cause célèbre.

Sunanda Pushkar (51) was found dead in her five-star hotel room in the capital last January, two days after she alleged on Twitter that her husband Shashi Tharoor (58) was having an affair with a female Pakistani journalist.

Ms Pushkar, a Dubai-based businesswoman, who married Mr Tharoor in 2010, was under medication for Lupus and early autopsy results suggested that she might have overdosed on anti-depressants and sleeping pills. But Delhi police commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi said that forensic evidence indicated that Ms Pushkar, who was Mr Tharoor’s third wife, had been poisoned.

“The poison could have been administered orally or could also have been injected, so keeping all these factors in mind, a murder case has been registered against unknown persons” he said.

Police officials said Mr Tharoor would be questioned over the next few days. Asked why it had taken police nearly a year to treat the death as murder, the commissioner said doctors examining the evidence had sought “additional information” on more than one occasion from police to assist them in their forensic investigations.

This had helped them reach their conclusion last week that she was poisoned.

Polonium poisoning

Television news channels, quoting police officials, claimed Ms Pushkar was administered polonium-210, a highly toxic substance, but were unable to provide details.

Alexander Litvinenko

, a former Russian KGB officer who was given asylum in Britain, died in 2006 of polonium poisoning .

Mr Tharoor, who is a Congress Party deputy and a former UN under-secretary general, said he was stunned by the news. “I join all members of Sunanda’s family in asking for full information about the basis on which the police have come to this conclusion [of murder],” he said.

Ms Pushkar’s death triggered speculation that she had taken her own life after being humiliated by her husband, who was repeatedly embroiled in political controversies.

Her death also dealt a severe blow to Mr Tharoor’s career as a cabinet minister.

Mr Tharoor, an acclaimed author, was also a candidate to replace his boss, Kofi Annan, as UN secretary-general in 2008. After losing the election to Ban Ki-moon, he returned home to India and became an MP for southern Kerala state. He was re-elected in May, despite his Congress Party suffering a significant loss in the elections.