Sunanda Pushkar has yet to be laid to rest, more than four years after her death. The fairy-tale romance between the impossibly lovely forty-something and the urbane politician captured the public imagination, only to end in tragedy and controversy.
The Delhi Police, in its chargesheet on May 14, has held that she committed ‘suicide’, effectively ruling out a link between her death and the Kochi IPL scam. The probe into her death may be over, but the dubious cricket franchise is still under investigation. The conspiracy theories sorrounding Sunanda’s untimely death will be put to rest only when the truth of the Kochi IPL matter comes out.
After all, in the hours and weeks before her death, she reportedly claimed to have been made the fall guy in the scam. She made a public display of her angst, alternately playing martyr and vengeful wife. Her husband and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has been named for allegedly ‘abetting’ her suicide and charged under IPC sections 498 (A) and 306 (the original FIR was under IPC 302, ie, murder).
Accused of ‘cruelty’, he has himself questioned the suicide theory. “No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part”, he observed. Tharoor would naturally have preferred, as in the Sridevi case, that the death be ruled accidental. From the very beginning, the cause of her death was steeped in mystery. The doctor who conducted her autopsy alleged that he had been coaxed to declare her death as ‘natural’, contrary to his findings. Thereafter, Sunanda’s viscera samples bounced from lab to lab, in India and overseas. The role of a senior police officer involved in the investigation was also impugned.
The final medical report by AIIMS, in January of 2016, held that she had died of poisoning and the many injuries on her body were a result of a “scuffle”, except for ‘injury number 10’, which was an injection mark. Later, a panel of doctors appointed to review the evidence returned an inconclusive report.
The suicide hypothesis was supported by various factors: Sunanda’s obvious unhappiness, the fact that she was on anti-anxiety medication — found in her room at the Leela hotel — and a rumour that she had been diagnosed with lupus, a potentially disfiguring condition. The latter, however, was ruled out and it seemed that she was perfectly healthy. Physically, anyway.
The ‘cruelty’ to which Sunanda was subjected could well refer to Tharoor’s alleged extra-marital affairs. One such liaison, with a Pakistani journalist, led to a bitter twitter war between Sunanda and the ‘other woman’. Marital discord could also have been the reason for the blunt force injuries on her body.
‘Abetment’ and ‘cruelty’ are fuzzy terms. It’s hard to see how one adult can be held responsible for the actions of another, however extreme they might be, unless blackmail, force or consistent abuse was involved. Infidelity may be emotionally cruel, but it can hardly be dubbed ‘abetment’.
Suspicions were fed by allegations that she had fronted for Tharoor and perhaps other influential persons in the Kochi IPL deal and was on the verge of spilling the beans. Sunanda had threatened as much, in the hearing of the prominent people who were part of her social circuit. In 2014, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy fanned that particular rumour by claiming that a member of the Congress first family was involved in the Kochi IPL deal.
It may be recalled that Tharoor had been forced to resign from Manmohan Singh’s council of ministers, after revelations that Sunanda had received Rs 70 crore worth of ‘sweat’ equity — a 19 per cent share — as a member of the consortium which successfully bid for the franchise. At the time, she was his girlfriend. Journalists recall that she was extremely nervous at the prospect of the scandal impacting her relationship with Tharoor.
She surrendered the equity and went on to marry Tharoor, who was rehabilatated by the Congress. The celebrity couple were a fixture on the party circuit, feted by Delhi’s beau monde. Their predilection for PDA (public display of affection) soon became a talking point. At one stage, Sunanda reportedly induced Tharoor to intervene with the Delhi police on behalf of a friend, who had run into trouble with a BJP MP and his wife.
Marital discord proved as extreme as their affection had been. That’s when the IPL issue resurfaced. Sunanda reportedly told friends that she had ‘taken the flak’ for Tharoor. In the days before her death on January 17, 2014, journalists received calls to that effect. In 2016, the then Delhi Police commissioner B S Bassi was inclined to probe the IPL angle and declared that her death was ‘not natural’.
The Enforcement Directorate took up the investigation. The Mumbai ED’s preliminary investigation in 2012, according to a leading newsmagazine, revealed that Tharoor was “the backbone of Kochi consortium”. IPL founder Lalit Modi’s phone records have apparently proved invaluable in following the money trail. But given the enormous financial and political clout of those known to be involved, the case seems unlikely to be unraveled any time soon.
Bhavdeep Kang is a senior journalist with 35 years of experience in working with major newspapers and magazines. She is now an independent writer and author.
