Doctors’ report in Sunanda case inconclusive: Police chief

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi on Friday slammed the report of the medical board on the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, terming it “inconclusive”.
The board, comprising three doctors from AIIMS, had concluded that Sunanda died of poisoning. Asked about the doctors’ conclusion, Bassi said, “We believe in the quest for truth and whatever is required in the quest for truth...we have been doing.”
He said the inquest report in the case was awaited and he would share information on the case once the police drew a firm conclusion.
According to sources, police have now asked the doctors to name the poison that killed Sunanda. The medical report had stopped short of naming the substance and, instead, had listed various poisons that Indian labs were incapable of tracing.
Dismissing BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s demand for a CBI probe into the case, Bassi said Delhi Police was competent to carry out the probe.
Police are yet to hold a single briefing on their investigations in the high profile case. The medical board, in its report, had pulled up the cops for not cooperating with them. The report said pictures of the crime scene, statements and other circumstantial evidence required to form a medical opinion in the case, were not submitted by the investigating officer.
“A doctor examined Sunanda’s body just after her death in a south Delhi hotel. Police did not submit his opinion/report to the board. The reasons for the 15 injuries found on Sunanda’s body – which police should have found out – were not submitted,” the report said.
Key personnel involving in the case, including the area SHO and the DCP, have recently been transferred.
While police officers have officially denied it, sources said the crime branch wanted to register an FIR in the case and then proceed with investigations. When they did not get the nod for the FIR, they refused to accept the case and the papers were sent back to the local police, a source said.