NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was today questioned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for the second time on various aspects including IPL controversy and his wife Sunanda Pushkar's mysterious death, even as her viscera sample has been sent to FBI laboratory in the US for further probe.
Tharoor was quizzed for over four-and-a-half hours at the Anti Auto Theft Squad (AATS) office in South Delhi in two sessions.
Tharoor's domestic help Bajrangi and Narayan Singh, his common friend Sanjay Diwan, his PS Praveen Kumar and Rajat Mohan (cardiologist of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital) were questioned along with him. Besides, they were also separately quizzed by by a five-member SIT team here.
Sources said that Tharoor faced tough questions on the IPL controversy which had broken out in early 2010 when he was minister of state for external affairs.
There were allegations that he had "misused" his office to ensure that Rs 70 crore, which was equivalent to 19 per cent equity in IPL Kochi franchise Rendezvous Sports, was paid to Sunanda, charges flatly denied by him.
Sources also said that a top senior police official, who is the member of SIT, left for the US to give the sample of Sunanda's viscera to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Police want to confirm whether the poison was radioactive isotopes, which cannot be detected in Indian labs, the sources said.
Tharoor first reached Sarojini Nagar police station and was later taken to the office of AATS in Vasant Vihar in south Delhi around 11.30 AM where he was questioned by the SIT team.
Delhi Police had earlier examined the former minister on January 19.
The SIT team, headed Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Prem Nath, comprising Additional DCP P S Kushwaha and three senior officers asked Tharoor about his relations with Sunanda and others aspects to establish the theory.
DCP Mangesh Kashyap from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), who was also part of the team, asked some questions to Tharoor about the now defunct IPL Kochi franchise.
He was questioned about the circumstances in which Sunanda had left him at the airport after returning from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi on January 15 and checked in at Leela Hotel, the sources said.
Police Commissioner B S Bassi said, "We called six witnesses today in the second round of questioning into the case. The SIT confronted them and once again recorded their statements."
According to the sources, the SIT officials tried to corroborate their earlier statements in front of them.
On being asked about EOW officials also questioning Tharoor, Bassi, however, said that EOW is our unit and we want to see every aspect into the case.
He said that SIT has questioned almost all persons, who were required to be quizzed, in the case and if there is need, some more persons will be interrogated.
"Our aim is to verify the fact to establish the truth," Bassi told reporters here.
The police team probing the case has so far questioned at least 15 people. Tharoor, his staff members and close friends were among those quizzed by Delhi Police.
Pushkar's son Shiv Menon was also quizzed by the SIT on February 5. Police sources had said that Menon was asked about the relationship between Tharoor and Sunanda.
Sources said that during the questioning of Menon, some new inputs emerged and Tharoor's response on them was required for the ongoing probe.
52-year-old Sunanda was found dead in her suite at a five star hotel in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014, a day after she was involved in a spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on micro-blogging website Twitter over the latter's alleged affair with Tharoor.