Sunanda Pushkar's death: What Shashi Tharoor told AIIMS

Sudhir Gupta, the head of the AIIMS forensic department in New Delhi, on Wednesday raised a fresh controversy into the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress MP and former Union minister Shahshi Tharoor. In a letter addressed to Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), he alleged that he was forced to alter the autopsy report. “Gupta has said that there is a malafide agenda to oust him from his position for taking a ‘professional position which went against vested interests’ in the probe into Sunanda Pushkar and Nido Tania deaths."— the newsminute.com reported. [caption id=“attachment_1599753” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shashi Tharoor (C) and relatives and friends carry the body of Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar before her cremation in New Delhi on 18 January 2014. AFP[/caption] In his affidavit to CAT and CVC, Gupta pointed fingers at Congress leaders Tharoor and former Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for pressuring him to act unprofessionally. People in the know have raised eyebrows as Gupta “has referred to this disclosure to bolster his case for continuation as head of the forensic department in the prestigious AIIMS.” According to governancenow.com, Gupta was appointed HoD of the forensic department in 2013, bypassing OP Murthy who could not qualify at that time. However, soon after the new director took charge, “Dr Murthy’s disqualification was ignored at AIIMS’s general body meeting to pave way for his (Dr Murthy’s) elevation as the HoD.” The forensic department head blamed Azad for using his position in an attempt to get Gupta out of the chair as he gave a professional assessment on the causes of Pushkar’s death. Although Gupta has alleged that the political vendetta is to get him vacate the post of head of the forensic department of the institution, the professor is himself facing “charges of plagiarism and misconduct which he has been contesting in the CAT”, governancenow.com said. In order to strengthen his position, the Gupta also attached some emails in his letter to the regulatory bodies. “One of the emails was sent from Shashi Tharoor’s id (TNM cannot confirm the same) to Dr MC Mishra, Director of AIIMS. In this mail, Tharoor draws the attention of Dr.Mishra to a medical opinion given by another doctor. From the content of this email, it is evident that the other doctor was someone who had examined Sunanda Tharoor in December 2013"— thenewsminute.com said. Below is the reported email-exchange that Dr Gupta has annexed in his affidavit. Firstpost cannot vouch for the authenticity of the emails. Dr Rajeev Bhasin to Shashi Tharoor:

I’ve been reading the newspaper reports saying that Sunanda had been drinking only coconut water for 3 days before her demise. I recollect that I had seen and examined her on 4/12/13 when you had called me in panic because she had high fever and was finding it very difficult to breath. At that point, her B.P. was around 90/60 and she had improved when we gave her electral and nimbupani. If she had no food for over 3 days and had only coconut water which has a very high content of potassium, this could have elevated her serum potassium levels and possibly slowed her heart rate. In addition, if she took alprax, it could have contributed to the slowing down of her heart rate and made it possibly difficult for her to call for help.

To which Tharoor replied, also including Anil Chatta as he’s a mutual friend of Dr Mishra:

Thanks Rajiv. I’m drawing this to the attention of Dr Mishra of AIIMS through our mutual friend Anil Chatta. I recall your fear that without regular hydration and salt intake she could suffer from recurring episodes of dangerously low blood pressure. Clearly this must have occured since she was not eating or drinking properly for two or three days. Thanks for alerting us to this.

Both the emails were dated 26 January, 2014 Meanwhile, AIIMS denied any foulplay regarding Pushkar’s autopsy report. “If needed, the AIIMS administration could file charges against Sudhir Gupta. As far as we know, there is no evidence that Sunanda Pushkar’s post-mortem report was manipulated. There was no pressure from our side on Sudhir Gupta,” AIIMS spokesperson Amit Gupta told the media at a press conference as this piece was being written. “AIIMS categorically denies that Sudhir Gupta was pressurized to change the autopsy report of Sunanda Pushkar,” the spokesperson further added. On 16 January this year, Pushkar had a heated exchange with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on Twitter, during which she accused Tarar of stalking her husband and being an ISI agent. The next day, Pushkar was found dead in room number 345 of the Leela Palace hotel in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. She did not wake up from her sleep in the evening and that is when Tharoor discovered her body, on returning to the hotel. The Centre has also sought a detailed report from AIIMS on the allegations.