Delhi court seeks police reply on plea to de-seal Sunanda Pushkar's suite

New Delhi: A Delhi court has sought the response of the city police on how much time it would require to de-seal the hotel suite where Sunanda Pushkar had died in 2014.

Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma asked the Delhi Police to file a report by coordinating with the forensic team as to how much time and how many visits they would need for a final view of the room to conclude their investigation.

The court, which put up the matter for further hearing on July 14, sought the response after the police claimed that the room may be required for further examination by the forensic laboratory or the Central Forensic Laboratory or any foreign lab team, even as the hotel has claimed that for the past one year, no probe team has visited the suite.

Opposing the hotel's application to de-seal Suite number 345, the police claimed that some exhibits have been sent for forensic examination and the results were still awaited.

The hotel claimed that because of the sealing of the suite, which costs between Rs 55,000 and Rs 61,000 a night, the hotel has suffered a loss of over Rs 50 lakh in the last three years.

It claimed that a number of times police and forensic teams had visited the suite earlier and it was not required to be kept sealed any longer.

"The hotel continues to suffer loss with each passing days. The continuous sealing of the suite is also affecting the use of other rooms/suites on the same floor," it said.

It claimed that no prejudice will be caused to the police if the suite is de-sealed as it has been examined by multiple forensic experts and agencies.

The suite was sealed on January 17, 2014 during the investigation in pursuant of death of Pushkar, the wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

An FIR was registered by Delhi police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under the section of 302 (murder).