Sunanda Pushkar case: Delhi Police to quiz Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, no word on Tharoor yet

New Delhi Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday met Ahmad Patel, political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, during which the issue of Delhi Police filing a murder case in his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death was briefly discussed. Highly placed sources in the party said that Tharoor had sought an appointment with Patel two days ago and met him after his arrival in Delhi. While the issue of registration of a murder case in Sunanda’s death came up for discussion briefly, the two leaders also discussed prevailing political scenario and recent developments in Kerala, from where Tharoor has been elected to the Lok Sabha. There is little likelihood of Tharoor meeting with Sonia or Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in the days to come, the sources said, adding nothing has been decided on a further course of action against Tharoor vis-a-vis party affairs so far. The Congress had earlier said that there must be an impartial inquiry into the matter. [caption id=“attachment_1840275” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shashi Tharoor. AFP[/caption] Party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi had two days ago said that there should be no discrimination either in someone’s favour or against in the investigation. Earlier in the day, Tharoor said he would cooperate in the investigation, even as Delhi Police said it will not question him as of now. Police will first question the other 11 people including Pushkar’s son Shiv Menon, her brothers Ashish Dass and Rajesh Pushkar, her cardiologist Rajat Mohan, a woman “Kaitie”, Tharoor’s personal assistant Rakesh Kumar Sharma and another family friend Sanjay Dewan - who found Pushkar dead when he came to enquire Leela Palace hotel about her health - before questioning Tharoor. According to reports, the Delhi police are soon likely to question Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar too. Police sources told Hindustan Times that since they cannot summon Tarar, they have prepared a detailed questionnaire to be sent to her through formal channels. The Delhi police claimed that Tarar’s version will help them establish the sequence of events in the run-up to Sunanda’s death.   Senior journalist Nalini Singh, with whom Pushkar was believed to be in touch over phone before her death, will also be called to join the probe, an official added. Besides, two of Tharoor’s officers on special duty (OSD) Shiv Kumar Prasad and Abhinav Kumar, along with driver Bajrangi will also be questioned. “Police will question relatives, family friends of the couple, Tharoor’s personal assistant, PSOs, servants and others and then, if necessary, Tharoor will be called. All the available evidence will also be gathered and it would be only after that we may question him,” the official said. “We have not called Tharoor for questioning as we do not need him at this moment,” he said. Initially, the Special Investigative Team (SIT) formed in the case wanted to question Tharoor straight away and a notice asking him to join the probe was also prepared but it was not dispatched at the last moment as the police top brass decided to question everybody else first. “This approach will help us pose those questions to him which would arise during questioning of all these people related with the case,” the official said, adding that no IPL angle has come up in the case so far as speculated in some media organisation. Tharoor had promised to co-operate with the investigations. “It is my duty to cooperate with the police investigation and not to undermine the probe in any way,” Tharoor said. 51-year-old Sunanda was found dead in a five-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17 last. Delhi Police had on Tuesday registered a case of murder in connection with Sunanda’s death under Section 302 of IPC on the basis of an AIIMS medical report that concluded that her death was unnatural and due to poisoning. with PTI inputs