Sunanda Pushkar may have died of drug overdose, says AIIMS doctors’ report

New Delhi – Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) are expected to submit the autopsy report of Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, the wife of Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD), Shashi Tharoor, to a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) here on Monday.

Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, wife of union minister Shashi Tharoor, may have died of a drug overdose, a panel of doctors has reportedly concluded.

Though they have ruled out the presence of alcohol in her body, doctors haven’t ruled out the presence of anti-depressant drug Alprazolam, an overdose of which, might have led to her death on January 17.

The autopsy was performed by a three AIIMS doctors, who had earlier said that her death was “sudden and unnatural”.

The sub-divisional magistrate will reassess the statements recorded in connection with her mysterious death.

Sunanda, 52, was found dead in her hotel room in Leela Palace in New Delhi’s Chanakyapuri on Friday.

As the marriage of Sunanda Pushkar and Shashi Tharoor was over three years, the inquest proceedings into her death have to be overseen by the sub divisional magistrate.

So far, sub divisional magistrate Alok Sharma has recorded the statement of eight people in connection with the case, including that of Shashi Tharoor, which lasted for over an hour on Sunday.

Tharoor was questioned about his alleged relationship with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.

Tharoor also wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, saying that he was “horrified” to read the “reckless speculations” over the matter in the media. Promising full cooperation in the probe, he urged the minister to instruct for a speedy investigation for the truth to come out at the earliest.

The entire saga revolving around the couple’s life was played out on Twitter last week when Sunanda accused Tarar of attempting to break her marriage and declared her to be an ISI agent.

It finally took an ugly turn on January 17 evening, when Sunanda’s dead body was found in Romm No.345 of the Hotel Leela Palace in New Delhi.

Sunanda’s final rites were performed at the Lodhi Road crematorium on Saturday afternoon.