Shashi Tharoor to face trial in Sunanda Pushkar's death case on 7 July; MP accused of abetment of suicide, cruelty

Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Tuesday took cognisance of the chargesheet filed in the Sunanda Pushkar death case and summoned Congress leader Shashi Tharoor as accused on charges of abetment of suicide and cruelty. According to CNN-News18, Tharoor has been summoned to the trial on 7 July at 10 am after the court held that there was sufficient evidence to charge Tharoor on the basis of the police report, Pushkar’s husband. Tharoor has been charged under Section 306, abetment of suicide (maximum punishment of 10 years), and Section 498A, subjecting spouse to cruelty (maximum punishment of three years) of the Indian Penal Code.

Delhi Court takes cognisance of charge sheet in Sunanda Pushkar death case, rules that Shashi Tharoor has to stand trial in wife Sunanda's death case. The court further summons Tharoor as an accused on July 7. @saahilmenghani
with more details. #SunandaPushkarMurderCase pic.twitter.com/jQcavglfQT

— News18 (@CNNnews18) June 5, 2018

As per a News18 report, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal took cognisance of Delhi Police’s chargesheet and summoned the Thiruvananthapuram MP. “I have gone through chargesheet and documents filed …On the basis of the police report, I take cognisance for the offence of abetment to suicide punishable under Section 306 and committing cruelty upon late Sunanda Pushkar under Section 498A IPC,” he said. Chargesheet ‘preposterous’ Tharoor, meanwhile, had termed the Delhi Police charge sheet accusing him of abetting the suicide of his wife Pushkar as “preposterous” and said that he intends to contest it “vigorously”. [caption id=“attachment_4268957” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. AFP[/caption] Tharoor is the only person who has been named as an accused in the case. The police in its charge sheet, which runs into around 3,000 pages, has also alleged that Tharoor had subjected his wife to cruelty. “I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet and intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part,” he tweeted. “It does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In October 2017, the law officer made a statement in the Delhi High Court that they have not found anything against anyone and now, in six months, they say that I have abetted a suicide… unbelievable!” Tharoor added. The police had filed the charge sheet in the case before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmendra Singh. It had urged the court to summon Tharoor as an accused, which it did on Tuesday. Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room in New Delhi on the night of 17 January, 2014. With inputs from agencies.