New Delhi:
Congress leader and lawmaker Shashi Tharoor, who on June 5 was granted an anticipatory bail in wife Sunanda Pushkar death case, arrived to appear before Delhi's Patiala House Court on Saturday.
Tharoor was summoned by the Delhi court after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a 3000-page charge sheet against the politician into the year-old Sunanda Pushkar death case.
Though the Thiruvananthapuram MP has been granted protection from arrest in the case, he cannot fly abroad without the court's permission and has to submit Rs 1 lakh as surety.
The court has summoned Tharoor as an accused on July 7 in the case and will further proceed against him on charges of 'cruelty' and 'abetting suicide'.
Sunanda Pushkar, 51, was found dead in her suite of a luxury hotel in the national capital on January 17, 2014. The couple was staying in the hotel, as the official bungalow of Shashi Tharoor was being renovated at that time.
Here are the Highlights on Sunanda Pushkar death case:
# 10:32 AM: Today, the Delhi police and counsel for accused said my position is not maintainable, I argued it under section 302 CrPc, I am entitled. The question of maintainability is irrelevant. I am here to see that trial is fair and Delhi Police does not botch it: Subramanian Swamy.
Today, the Delhi police and counsel for accused said my position is not maintainable, I argued it under section 302 CrPc, I am entitled. Question of maintainability is irrelevant. I am here to see that trial is fair and Delhi Police does not botch it: S Swamy #SunandaPushkar pic.twitter.com/RW0NyOqdKs
— ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2018
# 10:20 AM: Court set 26 July as the date for the scrutiny of documents and consideration of the application.
# 10:19 AM: Counsels for Shashi Tharoor questioned Subramanian Swamy's locus standi in the case.
# 10:15 AM: Public prosecutor and Shashi Tharoor's counsel opposed the applications moved by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy seeking Court's nod to allow him to assist the prosecution in the case and a direction to the police to produce the report of vigilance inquiry conducted earlier.
# 10:07 AM: Delhi's Patiala House Court grants bail to Shashi Tharoor. The judge said 'no requirement to file a formal bail. Anticipatory bail had been granted by sessions court'.
Sunanda Pushkar death case: Delhi's Patiala House Court grants bail to Shashi Tharoor. Judge said 'no requirement to file a formal bail. Anticipatory bail had been granted by sessions court' pic.twitter.com/rvoo4mLnPc
— ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2018
# 10:01 AM: Shashi Tharoor arrives to appear in Delhi's Patiala House Court.
Sunanda Pushkar death case: Shashi Tharoor arrives to appear in Delhi's Patiala House Court pic.twitter.com/1HbKFkorJ4
— ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2018
Pushkar committed suicide two days after Pushkar accused Tharoor of having an affair with a Pakistani journalist on social networking sites. She also got engaged into a public spat at the Kochi airport with her husband days before taking the drastic step.
Going by the 3000-page charge sheet, which the Delhi police submitted on May 14, Pushkar's "statements on social media can be treated as dying declaration. Sunanda's death is due to poisoning".
Talking about Pushkar's social media statements, she emailed Tharoor that she had no desire to live and all she was praying for is death.
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"I have no desire to live...all I pray for is death," the mail reads. Pushkar wrote the mail to her husband on January 8, 2014, nine days before her death.
Quoting a special investigation team, the charge sheet also accused Tharoor of ignoring his wife while she was sliding or slipping into depression. "He ignored her calls," the special team found. Tharoor had also frequent fights with Pushkar days before her death.
The former union minister, however, has called the charges "preposterous and baseless" and the product of a "malicious and vindictive campaign".
In his appeal for protection, Tharoor said, since the charge sheet was filed without any arrest, the bail is inevitable. "The law is clear," his lawyer added.
