NEW DELHI: Dr Sudhir Gupta, who headed the team at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) that conducted the autopsy of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor has alleged that he was forced by a minister in the outgoing United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, to cover up the case and alter the report by saying her death was “natural” but said he stood by his report stating she died of drug poisoning.
Pushkar was found dead in a five-star hotel in New Delhi on January 17, a day after a very public spat on Twitter with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over an alleged affair with Tharoor. Her death was termed as “sudden” and unnatural”.
Hindustan Times reports that Dr Gupta lodged a complaint with the central administrative tribunal (CAT). In his affidavit dated June 26 to the CAT, he has accused both the health ministry and the former health minister and then president of AIIMS Ghulam Nabi Azad, of pressuring him to act in an “unprofessional” manner to hush up the matter.
“(The) applicant could not muster courage of openly placing the facts in black and white as the former President of AIIMS Shri Gulam Nabi Azad was an immensely powerful politician and then the Health Minister and the Husband of late Sunanda Pushkar was also a minister and a powerful politician,” Gupta said in his affidavit.
Dr Gupta also wrote to the Union health ministry and the chief vigilance commission regarding the issue.
In his letter to health minister Harsh Vardhan, he reportedly alleged a “malafide agenda to oust me as head of department” which “have genesis in the cases of Sunanda Pushkar and Nido Tania since I had taken a professional and ethical stand which went against the vested interests of certain persons in AIIMS.
The Union health minister on Wednesday, 2 July said he has asked the AIIMS to provide a detailed report on Dr Gupta’s allegations.
When contacted, Gupta refused to comment.
“I don’t want to comment on this issue. It is a legal matter, a serious issue, I cannot share with the media. I am a government servant. Whatever I wanted to say, I have said at a competent place,” he told PTI.
But hospital sources confirmed he has approached CAT and has submitted email exchanges as proof.
The autopsy report had mentioned more than a dozen injury marks on Sunanda’s both hands and an abrasion on her cheek which suggests a “use of blunt force”, besides a “deep teeth bite” on the edge of her left palm.
Viscera samples were preserved after the autopsy at AIIMS and were sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) for further tests.
The CFSL report hinted at drug poisoning but its findings were not conclusive enough to file an FIR in the case, according to police.
Meanwhile, breaking his silence on the controversy, Shashi Tharoor issued a statement on Facebook, Wednesday, saying he has cooperated with the authorities from the beginning and asked them to bring the probe into the death of his wife to a definite conclusion.
“Upon the tragic loss of my wife Sunanda and from the very beginning, I have requested for a thorough investigation by the authorities to be conducted and concluded rapidly and transparently,” he posted.
“The Pushkar family has taken the same view and we have all fully co-operated with the authorities. I reiterate my request to bring this protracted inquiry to a clear and definitive conclusion at the earliest, so as to put all speculation to rest.”
India Today reports that soon after Pushkar’s death, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had alleged that she did not commit suicide, but that it was a case of murder. He had also questioned Tharoor’s nervousness regarding his wife’s death. He had also claimed that Pushkar had been given “Russian poison.
The Delhi Police which is investigating the case has sought a third opinion to ascertain her cause of death. After contradiction in AIIMS and CFSL reports, the Delhi Police has asked Forensic Science Lab to carry out advanced tests to ascertain whether alprax turned into metaboloids. Experts, however, say there are chances, the cause of her death may never be known.
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