Charge-sheet says social media messages by Pushkar to be treated as “dying declaration”

Delhi Police’s 3,000-page charge-sheet against Congress MP Sashi Tharoor that had been filed with the special, fast-track court set up by the Patiala House Court, will see Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal decide whether it is cognizable on June 5.

In the charge-sheet Delhi Police has accused Tharoor of abetting Pushkar’s suicide, a charge he dubbed “preposterous” and his party called “baseless”.

The Congress leader has been charged under Sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 498A (subjecting a woman to cruelty by her husband or his relative) of the Indian Penal Code, which entails a jail term that could extend up to 10 years.

The charge-sheet was filed in the case on the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during the investigation, as well as the opinion of experts regarding Pushkar’s death according to the Delhi Police.

It is also being said that Sunanda Pushkar‘s social media forwards such as text messages and e-mails would be treated as dying declaration by her.

Pushkar was found dead at a Delhi hotel in January 2014.

The fact that Pushkar had emailed her husband, Tharoor, saying she had “lost her will to live”, would also be treated as dying declaration.

The police told of the 27 Alprax (a prescription sedative) tablets found in her room, though it was not clear how many she had had. The death has been ascertained as due to poisoning. The police also said in the charge-sheet about injury marks on Pushkar’s body that “Though injury marks were not serious but they are consistent with claims that the couple fought.”

—India Legal Bureau