Sunanda Pushkar death: Police rapped for not de-sealing hotel suite

A city court on Tuesday pulled up the Delhi police for not complying with its order to deseal a room of a five star hotel where Sunanda Pushkar, the wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in 2014.

Metropolitan magistrate Dharmender Singh said that suite number 345 of Hotel Leela Palace should have been opened by Tuesday, as per the court’s previous order.

“The suite should have been desealed by now. Do you (police) want to initiate proceedings against yourself? I have already passed an order. But no compliance report has been filed,” the judge said.

The court has directed the joint commissioner of the Delhi Police to explain on October 6 why its previous order has not been complied with.

Also, it directed the police to file the names of members of its special investigating team probing the case.

The court has ordered desealing of the suite twice in the past this year. However, the suite continues to be locked since January 17, 2014.

The court is hearing a plea by the hotel’s management seeking desealing of the suite where Pushkar had died under mysterious circumstances.

In its plea, the hotel said that due to the sealing of the suite, which costs between Rs 55,000 and Rs 61,000 a night, it had suffered a loss of over Rs 50 lakh in the last three years. It said that the locked suite has become a home for bugs and insects.

The court had on July 21 ordered desealing of the suite within four weeks, saying the hotel cannot be put to unending hardship due to laxity on part of the police. Police had at that time sought more time to complete the probe. Later on September 12, the police was again directed to deseal the suite. Also, the court had on September 4 taken the police to task for its “lethargic attitude” in its probe into the case.

Pushkar’s death has been the cause of immense controversy, and the Delhi Police have come under criticism for the manner in which they handled the case.

ENDS