As the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of UDF Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha segment candidate Shashi Tharoor, continues to be a powerful campaign issue in the hands of the Opposition LDF in the poll front, the Pushkar family has come up with a statement that it is disturbing to note that the media is ‘’continuing with speculation about the tragic loss of our daughter, sister and mother, Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, on Jan 17.’’ Sunanda’s father Lt Col. (Retd.) Pushkar Nath Dass, brothers Colonel Rajesh Pushkar and Ashish Dass and only son Shiv Menon, said in a joint statement that, ‘’despite statements by each of us at the time that we suspected neither suicide nor foul play, some elements of the media and individuals with vested interests have continued to pursue the angle of alleged poisoning, to our distress.’’
‘’Now that the leaked viscera report has apparently concluded that there was no poison in her system, as we always believed, we request all concerned to stop their unfounded speculation,’’ the statement says. ‘’We stress that we have not received any official copy of the post-mortem report or the viscera report, and only know what the media has reported. We urge the police to conclude their investigations at the earliest so that she can rest in peace,’’ the statement concludes. The statement is intended to provide some sort of a solace to Tharoor, as he is left to confront charges of foul play in Sunanda’s murder, with Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan and LDF campaign managers leaving no stone unturned to keep the issue alive.