Sunanda Pushkar death case transferred to special court set up to deal with matters related to MPs, MLAs

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Court, which was hearing the Sunanda Pushkar death case on Thursday, transferred the matter to the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM), Samar Vishal. While transferring the case, it said that there is a special court set up to deal with the cases related to MPs and MLAs. The case will be heard next on May 28.

"Since Tharoor is a sitting Member of Parliament, the matter is being sent to the special designated court for politicians, that is ACMM Samar Vishal. Matter be taken up on May 28," the court said on Thursday.

The Delhi Police earlier on May 14 had filed a charge sheet in the court, in which they named Pushkar's husband and Congress Lok Sabha MP representing Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor as accused, charging him with abetment to suicide under sections 306. In a 3000 page chargesheet filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh, Tharoor was also charged under section 498 A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code.

Tharoor, however, called the chargesheet 'preposterous' and said that he intended to 'contest it vigorously'. "I have taken note of the filing of this preposterous charge sheet and intend to contest it vigorously. No one who knew Sunanda believes she would ever have committed suicide, let alone abetment on my part. If this is conclusion arrived at after 4+ years of investigation it does not speak well of the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police. The Congress leader said questioned the methods or motivations of the Delhi Police pointed out the delay of the chargesheet filing which took place more than four years after the death was reported," he tweeted.

Sunanda was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a suite of a five-star hotel in Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014. Delhi Police has repeatedly come under fire for delaying an investigation into the case, that reached a conclusion after four years. The suite of the South Delhi hotel, where Pushkar had died, was sealed by the police on the night of her death for investigation.