Mumbai, May 9 (Agencies): The newly-launched Republic TV led by senior journalist Arnab Goswami on Monday May 8 claimed that Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor had 'concealed' certain facts about the unnatural death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, and questioned why he was not arrested.

Sunanda (51) was found dead in a room of a five-star hotel Leela situated in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014, a day after her spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on Twitter over her alleged affair with Tharoor. Delhi police had constituted SIT to investigate the case but nothing concrete has come out. Delhi police is facing allegations of dragging the investigation.

As per claims made by Republic TV, the channel is in possession of 19 tapes of conversations involving Sunanda, her aide Narayan, and journalist Padma Srivedi, who is editor of Republic TV.

The channel said that two facts had been 'proven' - that Sunanda's body had been moved from room 307 to room 345 (in which it was ultimately found), and that Shashi Tharoor had returned to the hotel at around 11 am after leaving it at 6.30 am on the day of the death, a fact that he allegedly 'concealed' in his statement to the police. The channel alleged that the murder scene was tampered with before investigation. There was also a lengthy debate on air to establish the exact time of death, which, according to the media reports on the days following her death, was 3.30 pm.

The tapes purportedly reveal that on the morning of her death, Sunanda had spoken to Padma Sridevi and said she wanted to 'divulge everything'. The subsequent tapes are of conversations between Padma and Narayan, the aide, where the former is trying hard to get Narayan to fix an appointment with Sunanda but is repeatedly told that 'madam is sleeping'.

The channel claimed that Sunanda's clothes were removed from the hotel and she was allegedly prevented from speaking with the media.

Quoting the aide, the channel claimed there was some argument between the couple, which went on till the wee hours of the day she died. The aide was quoted as saying that Pushkar had gone to sleep at 6.30 am. In one of the tapes, he is quoted as telling the journalist that Sunanda Pushkar did not sleep the entire night and had not eaten for three days.

Deccan Chronicle stated that Delhi police chief Amulya Patna said the investigation in the case is on and declined to comment further.

The New Indian Express said that the Delhi police had not received the 19 tapes from the channel's editor Padma Sridevi, contrary to the channel's claims that they had been handed over to the police.

'Outright lies': Shashi Tharoor slams report

Meanwhile, even the channel was airing the sensational story, Shashi Tharoor slammed the report as "misrepresentations and outright lies".

"Exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies being broadcast by an unprincipled showman masquerading as a journalist," Tharoor tweeted.

"I am angered that someone would exploit a human tragedy for personal gain and TRPs. I challenge him to prove his false claims in a court of law," the former UN diplomat said.