Sunanda Pushkar murder case: Shashi Tharoor questioned twice by SIT

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was called in for the second time late on Thursday by the Delhi police for questioning in connection with the murder of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. According to a report in the CNN IBN, the questioning began at 10 pm. CNN IBN also quoted sources and said that Tharoor was called-in again after the SIT had already briefed Delhi police commissioner BS Bassi. Earlier, PTI had reported Tharoor was quizzed for over five hours at the Anti Auto Theft Squad (AATS) office in South Delhi in two sessions. Tharoor’s domestic help Bajrangi and Narayan Singh, his common friend Sanjay Diwan, his PS Praveen Kumar and Rajat Mohan (cardiologist of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital) were questioned along with him. Besides, they were also separately quizzed by by a five-member SIT team here. [caption id=“attachment_2096089” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “] Shashi Tharoor. PTI/File image[/caption] Sources said that Tharoor faced tough questions on the IPL controversy which had broken out in early 2010 when he was minister of state for external affairs. There were allegations that he had “misused” his office to ensure that Rs 70 crore, which was equivalent to 19 percent equity in IPL Kochi franchise Rendezvous Sports, was paid to Sunanda, charges flatly denied by him. Sources also said that a top senior police official, who is the member of SIT, left for the US to give the sample of Sunanda’s viscera to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Police want to confirm whether the poison was radioactive isotopes, which cannot be detected in Indian labs, the sources said. Tharoor first reached Sarojini Nagar police station and was later taken to the office of AATS in Vasant Vihar in south Delhi around 11.30 AM where he was questioned by the SIT team. Delhi Police had earlier examined the former minister on January 19. The SIT team, headed Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Prem Nath, comprising Additional DCP P S Kushwaha and three senior officers asked Tharoor about his relations with Sunanda and others aspects to establish the theory. DCP Mangesh Kashyap from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), who was also part of the team, asked some questions to Tharoor about the now defunct IPL Kochi franchise. He was questioned about the circumstances in which Sunanda had left him at the airport after returning from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi on January 15 and checked in at Leela Hotel, the sources said. Police Commissioner B S Bassi said, “We called six witnesses today in the second round of questioning into the case. The SIT confronted them and once again recorded their statements.” With inputs from PTI