NEW DELHI: In a twist in the death of ex-Union minister Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar, Dr Sudhir Gupta, Head, Forensic and Toxicology department at the AIIMS, has claimed that he was asked to prepare a ‘tailor-made natural death autopsy report’.
Documents accessed by Express state that Gupta “could not muster the courage of openly placing the facts in black and white as the former president of AIIMS, former Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was an immensely powerful politician and Pushkar’s husband Shashi Tharoor was also a powerful politician”.
Gupta has also written to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan alleging that the row started when the UPA government was in power so that he could be removed since he did not change the post-mortem report. Gupta also alleged that the “malafide move to oust him” from the post of HoD was linked to the post-mortem of Pushkar and Nido Tania as he had taken a professional and ethical stand.
In the wake of the forensic doctor’s allegations, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi briefed Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the probe into the matter. The commissioner said if any such pressure was applied on the doctor it will be probed. “I want you to know that the investigation in the case is going on. If necessary, we will examine Dr Gupta,” Bassi said.
Meanwhile, Tharoor demanded the authorities to carry out a rapid and transparent probe. “Upon the tragic loss of my wife Sunanda and from the very beginning, I have requested for a thorough investigation by the authorities to be conducted and concluded rapidly and transparently,” Tharoor wrote on a social networking site.
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