Sunanda case: Delhi Police asks CFSL to expedite viscera tests

New Delhi: Investigators probing Sunanda Pushkar’s mysterious death have asked the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) to expedite the viscera tests in the case which would establish the nature of the poison which led to her death. CFSL sources confirmed that the video footage of the hotel’s CCTV, where Pushkar was found dead, along with the viscera which was preserved after the post-mortem, have been received by the agency on Friday and tests in the laboratory have begun. [caption id=“attachment_1361807” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] Police have requested the CFSL Director Rajinder Singh to expedite the whole process in the case and sought a report as soon as possible, sources said. V B Ramteke, senior scientific officer-I, head of the department of Chemistry along with senior scientific officer-II Deepti Bhargava are carrying out the tests in the laboratory to establish the nature of poison. According to the experts, it takes more than 50 hours to test the viscera. On Tuesday, a sub-divisional magistrate had directed Delhi Police to investigate the murder or suicide angle in the case after autopsy report has cited the death as “sudden and unnatural” while the cause of death was mentioned as poisoning. However, the nature of the poison and the quantity can only be established after viscera tests at CFSL. Sunanda, 52, was found dead in a 5-star hotel in South Delhi on Friday night, a day after her twitter spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over an alleged affair with Tharoor. In a report to the police, SDM, who has recorded the statements of Sunanda’s brother, son, Tharoor and his staff, had said that no family member suspected any foul play in the death. The autopsy report had mentioned more than a dozen injury marks on Sunanda’s both hands and an abrasion on her cheek which suggests a “use of blunt force”, besides a “deep teeth bite” on the edge of her left palm. The search and seizure memorandum of the police which is a part of the report mentioned finding of mix of two drugs - Alprazolam and Excedrin. Excedrin is a combination of acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine while Alprazolam is an anxiolytic. The case, which was initially handled by South District police as the incident took place in Sarojini Nagar area was handed over to the Crime Branch on Thursday. However, the case was transferred back to the South District police on Saturday. PTI