Court cites lack of evidence while clearing Shashi Tharoor in Sunanda Pushkar case

A  Delhi court, while giving a clean chit to Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in the case of the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, said on Wednesday that there were neither specific allegations nor sufficient material to make out a case against him.

“Criminal trials require evidence and the accused can’t be compelled to face rigmaroles of a criminal trial in the absence of specific allegations and sufficient material to make out ingredients of the various offences,” the court ruled in the seven-year-old case, reports ANI.

Also read: ‘Nation wants to know’ types must apologise: Omar Abdullah backs Tharoor

After the judge pronounced the verdict, Tharoor said he was ‘grateful’ and wrote about ‘seven and a half years of absolute torture‘, mentioning vilification and media trials. “This brings a significant conclusion to a long nightmare that had enveloped me after the tragic passing of my late wife Sunanda… Fact that justice has been done will allow all of us in the family to mourn Sunanda in peace,” the Congress leader wrote.

Tharoor was on Wednesday cleared by the court of all charges in the death case of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, seven years after she was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her room at a Delhi hotel on January 17, 2014. She died a day after having a public spat with a Pakistani journalist over the latter’s alleged affair with Tharoor.

Also Read| Shashi Tharoor’s ‘Malayali Taliban’ tweet draws flak on social media

An autopsy stated that it appeared to be a case of sudden, unnatural death as injury marks were found on her body and traces of anti-anxiety drug Alprazolam were found in her stomach.

The case was handed to the Delhi Police and following an investigation, Tharoor was charged with abetting suicide in 2018. He has been charged under Sections 498-A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide), but has not been taken into custody in the case. In July, a Delhi Court reserved its order on the issue of framing of charges against Tharoor.