Shashi Tharoor charged with abetment to suicide in wife Sunanda Pushkar's death case
Indian Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has been charged with abetting suicide in his wife Sunanda Pushkar's death case, which occurred in 2014.
According to a police charge-sheet submitted in a Delhi court on Monday, the parliamentarian from the state of Kerala has also been accused of cruelty in is marriage.
Reports state that Tharoor is the only person named as an accused in the 3,000-page chargesheet compiled by the police.
Tharoor, 62, took to Twitter to refute the charges and called them "preposterous."
"I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet &intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ yrs of investigation," Tharoor wrote on Twitter.
"It does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. In oct 17, the Law Officer made a statement in the DelhiHighCourt that they have not found anything against anyone & now in 6 months they say that I have abetted a suicide. unbelievable!" Tharoor added.
Pushkar, 51, was found dead in her suite at a luxury hotel in south Delhi on January 17, 2014. The incident occurred days after she accused Tharoor publicly of having an affair with a journalist from Pakistan, according to reports.
Although police officials have said that they do have not found any evidence of murder, however, they believe that the circumstances could have driven her to commit suicide.
The charge-sheet reportedly states that Pushkar had not been eating or even leaving her room during her last days at the hotel.
According to police sources, the couple fought frequently and Pushkar was taking depression pills without prescription, according to NDTV.
Police officials reportedly questioned the 62-year-old former union minister on the circumstances under which Pushkar had checked into a hotel just two days before her death.
Reports state that the couple had allegedly had a huge fight on a flight from Kerala to Delhi.
Police had initially claimed that Pushkar was poisoned and had registered a murder case in January 2015. However, they had not mentioned any suspects then.