12.1.15

Sunanda Pushkar : Murder mystery?!


After filing the FIR in the Sunanda Pushkar case, police have sent her viscera samples to a forensic lab in London to identify the poison that killed her. The lab had been contacted in November. A letter rogatory was then obtained and the samples sent this week. But there was no official confirmation of this. The final AIIMS report sheds light on various aspects of the case but doesn’t specify the poison.
The report, on the basis of which the FIR was filed, says there was a violent scuffle in suite 345 of Leela Palace Hotel, during which glass was shattered and things thrown around. This happened hours before Sunanda was found dead. The AIIMS report that says there was a violent scuffle in the room that Sunanda was found dead in has not only made the entire episode more sinister but also, taken with the finding that she was administered poison, indicates a professional hand--one who could have got access to the suite Sunanda was staying in. Another view is that it could have been a known person. “There was no forced entry . An unknown person could not have barged into the suite, engaged in a scuffle with her and then administered her poison. It appears to be the job of a person who knew her,” said an investigator requesting anonymity.
So, everyone who was in the room on January 16-17 will have to be questioned. The contents of the report will be corroborated once Tharoor and his secretary, Abhinav, are questioned, said an officer.
The three-page report was submitted to the investigating officer on December 29 and was followed by the registration of an FIR of murder two days later on January 1 at 11.5 am. It bears the signatures of Dr Sudhir Gupta, Dr Shashank Punia and Dr Adarsh. The report explains what the medical board found when the members revisited the crime scene in October last year.
They said on entering the room (No. 345) “pieces of broken glass” were found on the carpet and near the curtain…”which are suggestive of scuffles”. The report also observed that “a patch mark was found on the bedsheet, suggestive of longtime urination. This could be either due to deep sleep or unconsciousness for long hours.” It further said some medicinal chemical compound — ethyl alcohol, caffeine, acetaminophen and Cotinine — were found in Sunanda’s urine sample.
Interestingly, the medical board has referred to a book written by Stefanie Ritz-Timme, a forensic expert at an institute of forensic medicine at the University of Dusseldorf. The report said the cause of death was poisoning, adding that it could have been given orally or injected. This is mentioned verbatim in the FIR.
The cause of death is said to be unnatural and natural death has been ruled out. The board has objected to the police not submitting to it an inventory of articles seized from the room for placing on record.

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