New Delhi, Jan 9(PTI): The Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing death of Sunanda Pushkar interrogated her husband Shashi Tharoor’s domestic help on Thursday for over six hours on specific details such as people who met her during the 48 hours prior to her death and the injury marks on her body.
The domestic help, Narayan Singh, who was in Himachal Pradesh, came here this morning after investigators asked him last night to join the high-profile probe. His interrogattion started around noon and it continued till late in the evening at an undisclosed location in South Delhi.
He was interrogated by police at least twice earlier.
Asked whether Tharoor is a suspect, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi did not give a direct reply saying, “As far as we are concerned anything and everything is possible.”
“Once we complete our investigation, we will definitely be able to tell you,” he added.
Sources said Singh was asked about details of the people with whom she was apparently in touch on email and different social media including twitter.
Singh’s interrogation came a day after a letter, written by Tharoor in November last year to the Delhi Police Commissioner, surfaced in which the Congress MP accused investigators of “assaulting” and “intimidating” Singh into “confessing” that they both killed Sunanda.
Sources said SIT is likely to question Tharoor’s personal staff along with the employees of the five-star hotel in Delhi where she was found dead on January 17 last year.
Delhi Police had on Tuesday registered a murder case in connection with Sunanda’s death under section 302 of IPC on the basis of an AIIMS medical report that concluded that her death was unnatural and due to poisoning.
The sources said Singh was asked whether Sunanda was suffering from any ailments and was there any medication she was taking. He was specifically asked about the Tablet Alprax, two used strips of which were found in her room in Leela Palace hotel.
“He was also asked about the 15 injuries found on her body, especially ‘injury number 10′ which was termed as a mark caused by the needle of a syringe,” the sources said.
This injury mark had raised suspicion that poison was injected into her body, sources said. The AIIMS medical report had dismissed the theory that Sunanda died of an overdose of Alprazolam as the viscera report is negative for the presence of the substance.
“The SIT will soon question other members of Tharoor’s staff, the employees of the hotel, a female journalist with whom she apparently spoke to before her death and all those who came in close contact with her in the last 48 hours before her death,” the sources said.
It will also examine the hotel doctor who declared Sunanda dead and go through CCTV footage of the hotel.
The fresh statements of these people will be matched with the ones they had given to the SDM who had carried out an inquest proceeding in the case.
These people can be called for questioning directly and police does not need to issue a notice to them in this regard.
The forensic report of Sunanda’s mobile phones and laptop which were sent for tests will also be evaluated.
Police has already got the details of the people with whom she was apparently in touch on email and different social media including twitter.
From the medical document made available to them the panel has also concluded that Sunanda did not have cardiac problem. She was not suffering from any diseases like hypertension, diabetes or tuberculosis.
The panel has concluded that Sunanda was neither ill nor had any disease prior to her death. She was a normal healthy individual.