Fresh twist in Sunanda Pushkar case: Police suspect 3 who stayed at Leela hotel

In a fresh twist in the Sunanda Pushkar death case, the Delhi police now suspect three people who were using fake passports and stayed at Leela Hotel in New Delhi where Pushkar was found dead on 17 January.

According to CNN-IBN sources, the Delhi police, while doing a background check on everyone staying at the hotel during the time of Pushkar’s death, found out that three people stayed at the hotel between 13 and 18 January using fake passports. The hotel staff also told police that the three were foreigners.

A Delhi police team headed by the ACP will now go to Dubai to conduct further investigation. As of now, the police have not ruled out money or IPL links behind Pushkar’s death, said CNN-IBN.

Meanwhile, a PTI report on 14 November had said that the Delhi Police was also considering sending viscera samples of Sunanda Pushkar to forensic laboratories abroad to determine the type of poison that is suspected to have caused her death.

Pushkar was found dead on 17 January in a suite of Hotel Leela, where she was staying along with her husband, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

The police on Friday had said that it had not reached any conclusion as yet in the probe into the mysterious death of Pushkar nine months ago, but was evasive on whether Shashi Tharoor will be questioned.

“Our inquest proceeding are pending because we have not reached any conclusion and it is very important for us to do every possible thing so that we can understand all the aspects and reach a conclusion. And to understand those circumstances, whatever needed, will be done,” Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi had said.

Asked whether Tharoor would be questioned in the case, Bassi had said, “See, I don’t talk about future possibilities but whatever would be necessary I will do it.”

The AIIMS medical board had, in its second report submitted to police recently, confirmed poisoning as the reason behind her death but did not mention the type of poison that caused her death. The police have also asked the AIIMS panel of doctors to redo their investigation and name the poison which caused Sunanda’s death but if it fails to do so, the samples will then be sent abroad.

(With inputs from PTI)