The Delhi High Court (HC) on Tuesday deferred hearing arguments on condonation of delay in a plea by Delhi Police against the trial court’s order discharging Congress MP Sharoor Tharoor in his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death case.
The matter was listed for hearing before a bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma. However, as the judge was on leave due to her ill health, the hearing got deferred to January 16, 2024.
In December 2022, the Delhi Police moved the High Court challenging the trial court’s order discharging Tharoor in connection with his wife’s death case.
On August 18, 2021, Special Judge Geetanjali Goel of the Rouse Avenue Court discharged Tharoor of all charges pressed by the Delhi Police.
Pushkar was found dead in a room of a luxury Delhi hotel in mysterious circumstances on the night of January 17, 2014. The couple was staying in the hotel due to some renovation work at Tharoor’s official bungalow. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered by the Delhi Police after Pushkar was found dead in her suite.
In 2019, the Delhi Police pressed for framing of charges against Tharoor under Section 498A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 306 (abetment to suicide) or alternatively under 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa appeared on behalf of Tharoor whereas Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava had appeared on behalf of the State. Appearing for Tharoor, the Senior advocate had told the court during the arguments that the probe carried out by the SIT absolved Tharoor of all charges levelled against him. He had also sought Tharoor’s discharge from the case, arguing that there was no proof against the politician implicating him in the case under either Section 498A or Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Whereas the prosecution urged the Court to frame charges against Tharoor based on the prima facie existence of a case for trial in terms of Section 221 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
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