A Delhi court Monday, 4 February, sent Sunanda Pushkar’s death case against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor to a Sessions court for further proceedings.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal sent the case to Additional Sessions Judge Arun Bhardwaj, since the offence under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code was triable by a sessions judge.
The maximum punishment for the offence is 10 years of imprisonment.
Court Rejects Swamy’s Plea
The court also rejected BJP MP Subramanian Swamy’s application, seeking to conduct the prosecution in the case against Tharoor.
In his plea, the BJP MP has sought to assist the court and to bring on record the Delhi Police’s Vigilance Report on tampering of evidence in the case, for framing of additional charges.
Tharoor’s counsel and Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa has opposed his plea, while Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava said that a third party should not interfere in the case as it is a criminal trial and the matter is between the Delhi Police and the accused person.
Tharoor, former Union minister and Pushkar’s husband, has been charged under sections 498-A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but has not been arrested in the case.
Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel in the city on the night of 17 January 2014. The couple were staying in the hotel as their official bungalow was being renovated at that time.
