MP Shashi Tharoor is facing charges of abetment to suicide and cruelty towards Sunanda Pushkar.
New Delhi: A Delhi court today summoned Congress leader Shashi Tharoor as an accused in the case related to his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death and asked him to appear before it on 7 July, saying there were sufficient grounds to proceed against him.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal took cognisance of the offences of alleged abetment to suicide and committing cruelty by Tharoor towards Pushkar.
“I have heard the prosecutor. I have gone through and perused the charge sheet and the documents filed along with it. On the basis of police report (charge sheet), I take cognisance of offence of abetment of suicide of late Sunanda Pushkar and committing cruelty upon her by Dr Shashi Tharoor,” the judge said.
“There exists sufficient grounds to proceed against Tharoor for commission of offences of Section 306 and 498 A of IPC. Issue summons to him for appearance for July 7,” the court added.
On 28 May, the court had reserved its order on whether to summon Tharoor as an accused in the case.
The Delhi Police had on 14 May accused the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram of abetting Pushkar’s suicide and told a city court that he should be summoned as an accused in the four-and-half year-old case, claiming there was sufficient evidence against him.
In a nearly 3,000-page chargesheet, the police has named Tharoor as the only accused while also alleging that he had subjected his wife to cruelty. It had also urged the court to summon Tharoor as an accused.
The couple’s domestic servant, Narayan Singh, has been named one of the key witnesses in the case.
Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of 17 January, 2014.
The Congress leader has been charged under sections 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
Under section 498A, the maximum punishment is up to three years of imprisonment, while jail term up to 10 years is prescribed under section 306.
An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on 1 January, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).
According to prosecution sources, the chargesheet mentions that Pushkar was allegedly subjected to mental as well as physical cruelty. Tharoor has not been arrested in the case. -PTI