Sunanda Pushkar murder: Tharoor may be questioned again, says BS Bassi

New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor may be questioned again in connection with his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s mysterious death, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi on Tuesday said. Tharoor has already been examined by the SIT once. He was questioned by police on 19 January for around four hours at the office of Anti Auto Theft Squad (AATS) in South Delhi’s Vasant Vihar. [caption id=“attachment_2067069” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shashi Tharoor in a file photo. AFP[/caption] “SIT is continuously probing the case. Whatever is necessary, they have been doing and I am sure that if they require to question anyone again, they will be doing that and they will be doing that soon,” Bassi told reporters here when asked when would Tharoor be questioned again. Sources said that SIT is likely to question the former Union minister this week as they got very “little time” with him on 19 January. They also said that as he was the “closest relative” of the deceased at the spot when she was found dead, he may be questioned several times as the SIT would want to ask him about the things which would arise during examination of other witnesses and people concerned. Sunanda was found dead in a room in the hotel on 17 January last year. Delhi Police filed a case of murder in the case on 1 January and an SIT was formed to probe the case. Since then, police has questioned a number of people in this connection including domestic aides of Tharoor, staff of the hotel where Sunanda was found dead, family friend Sanjay Dewan and the hotel doctor who pronounced her dead. Recently, it has also recorded the statements of several journalists in this regard with whom Sunanda had spoken a day before her death to find out whether she had mentioned to them about the IPL controversy, her husband Tharoor’s alleged relations with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar or about any plans of hers to hold a press conference. Journalist Nalini Singh had on Friday told the SIT that she had spoken to Sunanda about taking the blame for her husband in the IPL controversy following which police decided to rope in the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) to examine the business model of the erstwhile IPL Kochi franchise and to understand the controversy surrounding it. The investigators are now examining whether the IPL controversy had anything to do with Sunanda’s death. The IPL controversy had broken out in early 2010 when Tharoor 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 per cent equity in IPL Kochi franchise Rendezvous Sports, was paid to Sunanda. Sunanda, who was then a friend and yet to become Tharoor’s wife, had refuted allegations of any wrongdoing. She had also denied that she was acting as the front for Tharoor in the Kochi IPL franchise. Later, she quit Rendezvous Sports World after deciding to return her free equity worth Rs 70 crore to the franchise. PTI