Sunanda autopsy: Dr Gupta did not mention it in first plea against ouster

A day after AIIMS forensic sciences head Dr Sudhir Gupta claimed that he had been under pressure from UPA ministers to fudge the report of the autopsy conducted on Sunnada Pushkar, wife of former UPA minister Shashi Tharoor, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has promised to file a petition seeking a probe by the Supreme Court. Swamy reportedly said Sunanda Pushkar’s death should be investigated because she had promised to expose some IPL deals. So, while the BJP has claimed that it does not want to politicise the issue, the party has done exactly that. [caption id=“attachment_1599929” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] AIIMS, Head of the Department of Forensic Sciences and Toxicology, Sudhir Gupta. Image courtesy ibnlive.com[/caption] Now, it appears that Dr Gupta may have done a rethink on how he wanted to contest AIIMS’ decision to promote a colleague. A report in The Indian Express says in his first admission to the Central Amdinistrative Tribunal regarding his ouster as HoD of forensic sciences, he only contested the colleague’s promotion. “In his representation to the then Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on 6 May and to AIIMS director Dr MC Misra on 12 May also, he only gave his views on why his colleague was not eligible for promotion,” the report said. In an apparent revision of his stand, in his second submission, this time to the Central Vigilance Commission, Gupta said his ouster was illegal and politically motivated based on his “honest and ethical stand in the post mortem in the Sunanda Pushkar and Nido Tania cases”. This letter to the CVC was sent on 27 May, a day after the BJP-led government was sworn in, the report points out. Later, on 26 June, in fresh a submission to the CAT too, he mentioned the Sunanda Pushkar autopsy matter. The post-mortem report by Gupta had said, “To the best of my knowledge and belief, the cause of death in this case is from poisoning… and the circumstantial evidence is suggestive of alprazolam poisoning”. He said the 15 injuries, including bruises and abrasions “are caused by blunt force, simple in nature and not contributing to death.” As Firstpost reported earlier, the timing of Gupta’s allegations has forced many to doubt his intentions. Allegations are flying from both the sides regarding who linked the autopsy report to the post of HoD of Foresic Sciences at AIIMS, New Delhi. TV panelist Suhel Seth said Gupta’s “postponed courage” has raised questions on his credibility. Gupta could find more questions being raised in coming days about the timing of his allegations.