Playing politics over Sunanda Pushkar: Will she ever rest in peace?

Sunanda Pushkar’s death in New Delhi on 17 January this year continues to evade closure. What has happened is that the case now threatens to move away from its original aim of getting to the bottom of events that led to the death. Tagged as a high profile case right from the moment it happened, Pushkar’s death has now sadly become a platform for politics. [caption id=“attachment_1599817” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Late Sunanda Pushkar with her husband and Congress MP Shahshi Tharoor in a file picture. PTI[/caption] Things have come to such a state, that even highly regarded institutions like AIIMS and CFSL have come under a cloud. Worse the investigation has got up with a departmental posting within AIIMS that now threatens to harm the very base on which the case should go on to a logical end. Pushkar’s death has so far been caught in an ugly vortex of scientific, office politics and party politics mess. How it is a scientific mess Negating the observation made by AIIMS, Head of Department of Forensic Science and Toxicology, Sudhir Gupta, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory has reached a conclusion that Pushkar’s death is not a sudden one due to poisoning as mentioned in the AIIMS autopsy report. The allegation is that the then Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad wanted Gupta to change his version in light of the CFSL observation. “After the viscera report Gupta was asked to change the cause of death from unnatural to natural death. However, Gupta did not agree. He wanted to know on what basis CFSL reached that conclusion. But he has not been informed so far. He is willing to change his views if he is convinced by the CFSL findings,” Gupta’s friend Sidharth Mishra, who represented the doctor at a CNN-IBN panel discussion, said. While this may be dismissed as a non-issue, the tussle harms the credibility of both institutions. “If CFSL and AIIMS cannot be on the same page regarding a single death, it speaks volumes. It also raises questions on the competence of CFSL. As alleged if either of the parties agree to alter autopsy reports, it is definitely going to be a big worry for India,” said Counselage, managing partner, Suhel Seth. How it is petty office politics The timing of Gupta’s allegations has forced many to doubt his intentions. Allegations are flying from both the sides as to who linked the autopsy report to the post of HoD of Foresic Sciences at AIIMS, New Delhi. “Sudhir Gupta has not gone public. He is fighting within the system. The timing has been set by the court. For the last 20 years, Gupta had an illustrious career at AIIMS. In 2012, Sudhir Gupta was promoted as HoD as he was found to be quite bright by the full panel of interviewers which was headed by Azad. His opinion has been appreciated by courts while handling many of India’s infamous cases. Suddenly in April 2014, the person (OP Murthy) who was ignored then superseded Gupta as the HoD. The appointment is currently stayed by the court,” Mishra said. Seth said that Gupta should not be believed at face value. “I feel Gupta’s credibility is a suspect. Gupta has done a great disservice to himself by showing postponed courage. He should have immediately reached the court when the ministry allegedly asked for a wrongdoing. Why this delay?” he asked. Senior journalist Nalini Singh agreed. “The timing of Sudhir Gupta’s revelation is a suspect. This is not going to be flight MH-370 which simply vanished. If the court has set the time as Mishra said earlier it is a remarkable coincidence,” Singh said. How political parties may benefit from this mess Despite claiming that the party does not want to politicise Pushkar’s death, it is simply doing that. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday said that he will file a petition seeking a probe by the Supreme Court into Pushkar’s death. “Sunanda Pushkar had said that she would expose IPL deals, Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra’s name would also have surfaced. Sunanda Pushkar was killed and there should be an inquiry into it by Supreme Court,” Swamy was quoted as saying according to a Zee News report.“I am going to file a petition in Sunanda Pushkar death probe by the end of July,” he said. BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Mittal, who was part of the panel discussion, said, “There is a death that raised suspisions. The forensic report has said that it was not an unnatural death. So the matter should be investigated. Let us not deflect. We are not interested in Gupta’s career,” Mittal said.