Was asked to give false report in Sunanda Pushkar death case, AIIMS doctor says,photo

Was asked to give false report in Sunanda Pushkar death case, AIIMS doctor says,photo

The medical team probing the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, has concluded that she died of poisoning.

The team comprised three doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and was headed by Dr Sudhir Gupta, who had earlier alleged that the team was pressured into giving a 'tailor-made' report in the case.

The report, accessed by TOI, did not name the specific poison or chemical that caused the death. Instead, it listed a number of poisons that cannot be detected in Indian labs. These include thallium, polonium 210 (a radioactive substance of which a few milligrams is lethal), nerium oleander, snake venom, photolabile poisons and heroin.

emerge over time. Cover-ups and obfuscations give way to evidence and clarity. But the process may take an excruciatingly long time. In the mean time, the main actors may even have died. The mystery relating to Sunanda Pushkar's unnatural death (it would have been called a gruesome murder but for the high-profile minister's involvement) is undergoing such a meandering process.

Had she been married to a commoner, such a nasty event would not have occurred. If it had happened, the cruel inhuman husband would have been arrested straightaway. But ministers seem to be immune from criminal investigations for spousal cruelty and uxoricide.

Sunanda Pushkar's relatives are now beginning to gather strength to speak the truth. Her cousin, Ashok Kumar, has voiced the most sensible and straightforward concern about the husband's obvious involvement. He has attributed Sunanda's son Shiv's so-called clean-chit to the minister to mortal fear.

The needle of suspicion matter-of-factly has right from the beginning pointed to one person and he has been allowed so far to walk free, travel abroad and curry favour with the new ruling establishment for ten months. Yet, the law continues to be otiose. National Commission for Women and various women's organisations should hang their heads in shame for letting down a murdered woman so shabbily.