Sunanda’s murder case: Delhi police to question Pakistani journalist

Officer says if Tarar does not cooperate then he will seek external affairs ministry’s help to record her statement

NEW DELHI:

Police on Friday said they would question politician Shashi Tharoor’s friend and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar about her online spat with Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar days before the latter’s death by poisoning.

An officer said the police would email a questionnaire to Tarar. “If she does not cooperate then we will seek the external affairs ministry’s help to record her statement,” he said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Tarar said she has not received any questionnaire so far. “However, even if I received one, I would not share its details as the matter is sub judice,” she added.

Sunanda was found dead in a hotel suite she was sharing with her husband Tharoor, a Congress MP and then a minister, in January last year. In her final days, she had posted a series of tweets accusing Tarar of stalking Tharoor. Police sources claimed a distraught Sunanda had told her friends that she suspected an affair.

Tharoor made it clear to the media on Friday that he wanted a fair and impartial investigation into the death of his wife Sunanda. The Hindu quoted Tharoor as saying that he would never try to influence the police investigation.

“My silence is not sinister. I have been silent all year. A police inquiry is going on. I don’t want to undermine or compromise the inquiry in any way,” he told the newspaper.

He said there should not be any political interference or prejudices in the investigation. “I have lost my wife and have not been able to mourn in peace for a year.”

He said he had written to the Delhi police commissioner and raised concerns about the investigations. “I am not here for a public debate. Nobody in my family had any reason to suspect a foul play in her death,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.