Sunanda Pushkar death case: Shashi Tharoor gets protection from arrest

New Delhi, July 5: Delhi's Patiala House Court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to Former Union minister Shashi Tharoor in connection with the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted Tharoor the relief on personal bond of Rs one lakh while directing him to neither tamper with evidence nor leave the country without the court's prior permission.

The judge had on Thursday reserved the judgment after the Delhi Police opposed Tharoor's anticipatory bail plea, saying he might flee the country.

Tharoor was summoned by the court and asked to appear before it on July 7. It had observed that there were sufficient grounds to proceed against him.

In his plea filed through advocate Vikas Pahwa, Tharoor said the charge sheet has been filed without arrest and the SIT (special investigation team) has categorically stated that investigation has been concluded and no custodial interrogation is required.

On June 5, a court had summoned Tharoor as accused, asking him to appear before it on July 7 and saying there were sufficient grounds to proceed against him. Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014.

As per the charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police, the Senior Congress leader has been charged with committing offences under sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 498A (cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). If convicted under the former section, Tharoor is looking at up to ten years in prison.

According to the charge sheet, the Delhi Police is claiming that Sunanda was harassed and subjected to cruelty by Tharoor to the point of being driven to suicide. Section 498A makes it an offence for a husband or a husband's relative to subject a woman to cruelty, punishable by three years' imprisonment.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a Delhi luxury hotel on January 17, 2014.